The bacteria that controls the hunger-A new twist to satiety and hunger in humans.

Thousands of words have been written about the importance of consuming a balanced diet in moderate quantities and many workshops have taken place to impress upon people the need to exercise regularly for maintaining good health. Unfortunately consumers do not seem to be paying too much attention to these cautionary advices as evidenced by the gross indiscipline seen among the consumers regarding their choice of foods. With massive promotion of nutrient light and calorie rich junk foods by the industry, consumers are tempted to go in for foods which are cheap, tasty and satisfying ignoring costlier options like fruits, vegetables, whole grains based products and others. The result is the galloping trend of uncontrolled weight gains often tending to cross the obesity rubicon! Who is to be faulted for this population degeneration-the industry, government or the consumer.? The answer depends on who is going to reply! The industry says that consumer must do necessary exercise to maintain good health, government has not much of an opinion on this and the consumer cannot decide what to eat. With sugary and salty foods now being bracketed with tobacco and alcohol as addictive substances, the onus seems to be on the consumer to shun these types of foods for their own good. But how can they do this unless there is strong will which cannot be expected from every body. Now comes another twist to this food addiction story narrated by some scientists who opine that it is actually the gut bacterial composition that determines the hunger and decision to eat how much. Read further below to get a better idea about the new postulations made by them.   

"Gut microbes could be the one responsible for telling people that dinner is done. Researchers of a new study have found chemical clues suggesting that when certain bacteria in the stomach already had enough to eat, they inform the brain it is time to push away the plate. In animal experiments, researchers found evidence suggesting that certain microbes in the body have a way of letting the brain know they have had enough nutrients. The signals they send also appear to have the ability to turn on and off the hunger of their host. For the new study published in Cell Metabolism, Serguei Fetissov, from Rouen University in France, and colleagues looked at the proteins produced by the E.coli bacteria, which are prevalent in the human gut, and noticed that about 20 minutes after feeding and multiplying in number, the bacteria switch from producing a set of proteins to another. When Fetissov and colleagues injected small doses of the post-meal proteins into rodents, they noticed that they reduced their food intake regardless if they were previously fed or kept hungry. Further analysis likewise revealed that one protein stimulated the release of a hormone that play a role in satiety.  "Our study shows that bacterial proteins from E. coli can be involved in the same molecular pathways that are used by the body to signal satiety, and now we need to know how an altered gut microbiome can affect this physiology," Fetissov said. Once they are provided with nutrients, the bacteria were found to produce more or less a billion more of their kind. Interestingly, they stop growing after producing about one billion and then start producing new proteins that inhibit the effect of appetite. The researchers said that E.coli could be hijacking a molecular pathway to produce signals that make animals feel full. By doing so, the bacteria also find a way to self-regulate their populations. The findings of the study show the microbes have a crucial role in the physiology of appetite and may even help people who suffer from eating disorders. "These data show that bacterial proteins produced after nutrient-induced E. coli growth may signal meal termination," the researchers wrote. "Continuous exposure to E. coli proteins may influence long-term meal pattern."

E.coli is a microorganism not liked by the hygiene scientists and its presence in any food is taken as indication of fecal contamination. This surmise is based on the fact that there are over 500 species of microorganisms which inhabit the human gut. Naturally among these colony of bugs there could be good ones as well pathogens depending on the source of fecal contamination. Thus E.coli is more known as a marker microbe for the microbiological quality of any food. However the revelation by the French scientists that it may be playing a role in controlling the hunger is indeed startling and by this score it deserves our respect. There may be significant implications of these findings for future research on obesity control. A natural question that arises in this context is whether inclusion of favorable nutrients of E.coli in human diet can bring in satiety faster and there fore lesser intake of food? This is a gray area requiring further studies. Of course the results of the animal experiments itself need not be applicable to humans in all cases and naturally the research opens up wide vistas for further studies in the coming years. If confirmed by human trials, there is even the possibility of growing E.coli under controlled conditions for producing the typical protein that is implicated in satiety and including the same in the diet for creating quicker satiety.

V.H.POTTY

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Hunger blocking-A new device to treat people with high BMI.

Medical science has progressed so much to day that there is a "surgical' solution for almost every ailment man is facing. Only to day there was this report which highlighted the efforts of surgeons to implant an artificial pancreas in a child to overcome the Type I diabetes disease! Like this transplantation and implantation are common for many organs like heart, liver, kidney etc and thousands of such "operations" are performed every day across the world giving new lease of life to people, who otherwise are condemned to a life of uncertainty and enormous anxiety burden. Now comes a news from the US that the drug authorities there have approved a medical device that can be implanted in obese patients who otherwise are not responding to any treatment for reducing their body weight. Here is a take on this interesting development which may give hope to millions of obese individuals to cut down their misery.

"EnteroMedics' Maestro System has become the first obesity device to be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in ten years. The device, which the company compares to a pacemaker, is designed to block signals in the nervous system to reduce feelings of hunger. Obesity is, excuse the phrasing, a growing problem across the world. It is estimated that one third of Americans are clinically obese. While eating less is may present the simplest and most obvious solution for many, combating obesity or stimulating weight loss, especially in the morbidly obese, is not a linear problem. Often it is simply not practicable or effective for those treating obese patients to recommend diet and exercise, and more drastic treatments such bariatric surgery are too invasive for some patients or may have other adverse effects. The now FDA approved Maestro System, which has been in use in Australia since mid-2011, is implanted via an outpatient procedure. By applying electrical pulses in what EnteroMedics calls VBLOC vagal blocking therapy, it is designed to interfere with signals between the stomach and the brain along the vagus nerve, which regulates the digestive system. Like other approaches to suppressing appetite , the desired result is to decrease feelings of hunger or induce a sense of satiety. The implanted system is connected to a battery which must be regularly recharged by the patient".

It is not that weight reduction methods are not available for dealing with such extreme weight related cases but when all available methods do not bring in desired results, what else one can do except going in for extreme measures like the implantation. The new technique though considered minimally invasive, still entails surgery to position the rechargeable battery device, similar to a cardiac pace maker, for blocking hunger signals coming from the brain through the vagus nerve system resulting in lesser feeling of hunger and consequently lesser eating. This new therapy is intended mainly for those with BMI 35 and beyond with health problems like CVD and other life style diseases. Unlike Bariatric surgery where part of the intestine is stapled to reduce volume of food eaten, vagus nerve intervention therapy is done as an out patient procedure without any need of hospitalization. A word of caution is called for and that is, while opting for this therapy it is inadvisable to opting for it by healthy individuals for becoming lean in a hurry!

V.H.POTTY
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V.H.POTTY

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http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

Another UN Conference-Will any thing substantial come out it?

It is an irrefutable fact that we have side by side hunger as well as obesity, co-existing, with each passing day the latter cases growing at an alarming rate. This is attributed to inequitable distribution of wealth which is mostly concentrated in rich industrialized countries like the US, Europe, japan and a few others. While ways and means to tackle poverty and hunger are routinely discussed the progress towards a world free of people with starvation and near starvation is still a mirage. Global aid to ameliorate this ugly situation does bring down hunger significantly and food aid can never be the answer to banish the scourge of hunger on a permanent footing. The key to overcome this curse is enabling people in affected countries to earn more through economic development so that they can access to the food with ease. Agricultural productivity to day is more or less satisfactory growing sufficient food to meet the needs of the entire planet and new technologies are continuously emerging to help the farmers to attain higher and higher land productivity. If it is a question of generating income among not well to do population what a UN conference can achieve through a conference is a debatable point. Nonetheless if the forthcoming UN conference in Rome can continue to sensitize the governments in various countries regarding the food problem and health issues arising out of food it can keep them in focus, lest they are forgotten. Here is a take on this development which is billed as path breaking for the future of this plant  .

"An upcoming international conference on nutrition will focus on the twin evils of malnutrition and obesity.  Representatives from at least 140 governments, including 90 ministers and members of private institutions and civil societies, will gather in Rome next week to devise strategies for improving the nutritional status of hundreds of millions of people around the world. The conference, which is jointly organized by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization will address multiple issues related to nutrition.  These include the problems of under-nutrition, obesity, and chronic diseases related to poor diet. Global statistics are not encouraging.  WHO reports more than 800 million people suffer from chronic hunger.  More than 160 million children are affected by chronic malnutrition or stunting.  At the same time, it says 42 million children under age five are overweight.  These figures tell an even more dramatic story when statistics on adult under and over-nutrition are factored in. FAO and WHO agree the global food system is broken and must be fixed to provide healthy nutritional diets for those who are deprived.  They say it is possible to enact policies that can improve the quality of the food supply, provide healthy foods and intervene directly in life-saving therapy when needed. Xiangjun Yao, the director of the FAO Liaison Office in Geneva, says good nutrition is composed of many strands.  Therefore, she says there must be a holistic approach to cover the whole food chain. "To us, the food system, it should be something from the farm to the table, from what we call farm to fork and, that covers production, processing, storage, distribution, preparation and also consumption,"  Yao said. The U.N. agencies will be proposing a large, comprehensive list of strategies to the conference for approval.  The plan of action will call for greater focus on the nutrition of children from birth to age two to avoid malnutrition and stunting.  It also calls for greater attention to the needs of pregnant and lactating women as well as to the most neglected and socially marginalized groups in society. The centerpiece of the conference, which will run from November 19 to 21, will be a political declaration asking governments to commit themselves to eradicate hunger and prevent all forms of malnutrition worldwide by 2025.  Director of the WHO's Department of Nutrition, Franceso Branca, tells VOA that the so-called SDG II or Sustainable Development Goal will go beyond the Millennium Development Goals, which have succeeded in halving hunger in at least 63 countries by 2015". 

While number of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition is coming down as per the statistics provided by FAO, it is the obesity problem that haunts many developed and developing countries which does not show any abatement in spite of a slew of measures to arrest its growth and reduce such population significantly. Though over eating is more like a disease which may need a medical approach, what is intriguing is why people indulge in gluttony knowing pretty well that it is dangerous to their health. Modern food industry is often blamed for tempting people with highly palatable but nutritionally deficient food products in most convenient formats.but personal choices are important and younger generation needs to be "intensely" educated to shun high calorie, high fat, high salt foods illustrating the dangerous consequences of opting for such foods. Industry cannot be expected to do much as it is a profit center constantly trying to ensure adequate returns to its investments and the industry will always cater to the demand from the market regarding what foods consumers want. The forthcoming conference must focus on an international commitment to upgrade the curriculum and educational practices to obviate the situation. Along with policy supports which can subtly change the product mix coming out of the industry, a new era must emerge where "conscious" eating may become a norm.      

V.H.POTTY
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http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

Beyond Green Revolution-New insight into greater food production

Doomsday sayers have been raising the specter of famine and starvation due to mismatch between population growth and food production since a long time. But there are eternal optimists who feel if human race has outlived such situations in the past it will also find some away to perpetuate itself with suitable ameliorating strategies. Whether one believes it or not the oft repeated claim by many pundits is that one in eight people, on an average remains hungry due to inability to get adequate food every day! This works out to more than 800 million of the global population who remain starved, one of the reasons being non-availability of food near their habitat. But this is disputed by some social activists who contend that access to food is denied to these unfortunate fellow denizens because of economic compulsions, viz inadequate buying power. What ever it be, fact still remains that there does exist a problem vis-a-vis food security. This is compounded by the wide prevalence of nutrition insecurity due to imbalanced food production profile that constitutes today's crop mix. It is sad that more priority is accorded to crops like sugarcane and cereals than pulses and oil seeds in may countries depriving the people of the vital nutrient dense food commodities so necessary for an active and healthy life. Added to this the critical shortage of land for expanding agriculture further, places roadblocks for increasing food production. This calls for new strategies and approaches to quantitatively and qualitatively increase food production in coming years. Success of a group of scientists in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York State in the US on plant flowering and the possibility of gene manipulation to increase yield of crops like Tomato through Florigen-Antiflorigen system gives hope for achieving quantum jump in food production much faster than that which can be obtained through conventional plant breeding. Here is a take on this exciting development.

"Crop yields of tomato plants could be boosted by 100 percent and plant breeders will be able to combine different gene variants among the set to create an optimal plant architecture for particular varieties and growing conditions. The set of mutations will enable farmers to maximize yield in tomatoes and potentially many other flowering plants, including staple crops like soybeans. Natural variation in plant genes stopped being the best way to increase yield a while ago and yield gains are plateauing. That means a modern scientific approach is needed. Worldwide, more than 842 million people do not receive adequate nourishment, about 1 person in 8 alive today. The cost of food is expected to increase and hunger is likely to become more widespread as the global population expands to beyond 9 billion by 2050 unless improvements are made in the agriculture of developing nations. Ancient humans recognized that selecting plants with modified architectures could have a major impact on the amount of fruit they produce. In general scientific terms, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Associate Professor Zachary Lippman explains, "Plant architecture results from a delicate balance between vegetative growth – shoots and leaves – and flower production. To increase crop yields, we want plants to produce as many flowers and fruits as possible, but this requires energy – energy that is produced in leaves." A set of genetic variants can dramatically increase tomato production. On the far left is the average yield from a plant that grows standard canning tomatoes. The next three piles were produced by plants with mutations found in the toolkit. The combination of genetic mutations on the far right produces twice as many tomatoes as the standard variety. Credit: Zachary Lippman/ Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory In tomatoes and all other flowering plants, the balance between vegetative growth and flowers is controlled by a pair of opposing hormones, called florigen and anti-florigen. Prior work by Lippman and Israeli colleagues showed that a mutation in florigen can shift the balance between vegetative growth and flowering, modifying plant architecture in a way that increases yield. This suggested that the balance between florigen and anti-florigen might not yet be optimal in tomato plants, despite centuries of breeding with natural variants. In a study published today in Nature Genetics, Lippman and colleagues identified an array of new gene mutations that allow, for the first time, a way to fine-tune the balance of florigen to anti-florigen. This maximizes fruit production without compromising the energy from leaves needed to support those fruits. "We mixed and matched all of the mutations," explains Lippman. "And we were able to produce plants with a broad range of architectures. Together, our collection of mutations forms a powerful toolkit for breeders to pinpoint a new optimum in flowering and architecture that can achieve previously unattainable yield gains." With multiple genetic variants, breeders can combine different mutations to provide a new optimum for their particular variety (as shown above) and growing conditions. Credit: Zachary Lippman/ Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory The breakthrough benefit of the toolkit, says Lippman, is that it allows farmers to customize genetic variations for particular varieties and growing conditions. "For example, we found that different combinations boost yields for cherry tomatoes and other fresh-market tomatoes compared to tomatoes that are processed for sauce, ketchup, and other canned products. We've tested this in multiple genetic backgrounds, in multiple years, and in multiple environments – and the toolkit always provides a new maximum yield." These results are likely to be broadly applicable to other flowering crops, Lippman says. Mutations that affect florigen and anti-florigen are already known to play a role in controlling plant architecture for the oil crops rapeseed and sunflower, and can be applied in those. But the team is anxious to move on to critical food crops, specifically soybeans, which share many growth similarities with tomato"

 If scientists have been able to increase tomato production by 100% through this new approach there is no reason why the same success cannot be ensured for other more critical crops like pulses and oil seeds. In India the agricultural production has no doubt increased after the success of Green Revolution heralded by late Norman Borlaug but the food production profile seems to be lopsided with heavy emphasis on crops like cereals, sugarcane and non-food crops, neglecting such vital crops like pulses and oil seeds which continue to be imported at great cost to the exchequer. Though light, temperature and environment do play a part in crop production, the new emerging technology involving florigen-antiflorigen manipulation through gene mutation to change the plant architecture favoring more flowering and fruiting, appears to be best suited to Indian conditions. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) must collaborate with the the institution that is pioneering the new technology to enable the country to achieve increased production of pulses and oilseed crops without losing much time.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

HUNGRY FOR CALORIES OR HUNGRY FOR MICRO NUTRIENTS? THE GLOBAL PARADOX

What is hunger? How does one feel hunger? How can one satisfy hunger? Very complex questions eliciting different responses from different experts, each looking at this phenomenon from their own perspectives. Many administrators feel that by supplying adequate quantity of food  the problem hunger can be solved! But nutrition and health pundits do not agree with this approach because such a simplistic solution does not take into consideration the vital needs of human body vis-a-vis micro nutrients such as minerals and vitamins. Take the case of India where a misguided political class came up with the idea of a food security act to confer upon its citizens the right to access food at low cost and if the assumptions of the government are to be taken seriously, there would be no hunger when citizens are provided cereals practically free of cost. Unfortunately the hunger does not not seem to be coming down in spite of all these freebies and India ranks a lowly 120th position in the Global Hunger Index with just about 8 countries worse than it. Imagine India being worse than its neighbors like Nepal and Sri Lanka! Whether this "good achievement" is due to government efforts or through statistical jugglery is a matter of speculation. The distinction between calorie hunger and nutrient hunger makes a lot of difference as good healthy individual with maximum human productivity can be ensured only when nutrient hunger is also eradicated eventually. Here are some data released by some international agencies recently highlighting the position in India and 127 other countries which offers some clue regarding the direction India is going in dealing with hunger among its population.  

"Is it possible to have food on your plate, but still go hungry? Yes, is the answer, according to the latest Global Hunger Index, compiled by German World Hunger Aid together with the Irish aid and development organization Concern Worldwide and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). "Eight hundred million suffer from not having enough to eat, so it is quantity, it is calories," said Shenggen Fan, general director of IFPRI. "But 2 billion people suffer from lack of micronutrients." "The question is the timing, how soon the people will die. So lack of food, particularly lack of calories, can lead to death very quickly," Fan said. "But the lack of micronutrients is equally damaging."

It has to be borne in mind that India is a huge country with a large population but low income levels which restricts many of its citizens access to food whether good or otherwise and it calls for herculean effort to lift those who are still impoverished above the poverty line. How far the statistics by the government agencies can be relied upon to draw any conclusion about the extent of poverty prevalent in the country is any body's guess! Indians are known to be reluctant to share their true personal information to statisticians surveying for such data for various reasons. If one takes the example of income tax paying population in the country, almost 90% of those who qualify for IT payment escape the net by suppressing their income and never filing their returns regularly.The farming community is in distress because of the nonviable land holdings and uncertainties of weather as most of them rely on rains to raise their crops. If any tangible improvements are to be realized, land consolidation is a prerequisite which only can make agriculture an income generating avocation. Can any government do this? Do they have the courage to think in this direction leaving aside the politics of vote consolidation? Sending condolences and paying ex-gratia payments to farmers committing suicide due to unbearable debt burden cannot achieve any thing. As long as this situation does not change, India is consigned to the bottom of the GHI for decades ahead.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

WHETHER CALORIES OR NUTRIENTS, IT IS NO WIN SITUATION IN INDIA!

In spite of dire predictions about the fate of the country, in the face of crushing burden of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, India seems to be plodding on without any catastrophe as being talked about for a long time. But if the statical figures coming out of this country with a massive population of almost 2 billion are taken seriously, billions of rupees invested by successive governments in the name of poverty alleviation and welfare of the so called "aam aadmi" or the "common man",  do not seem to have made any lasting impression at the ground level. Poor people continue to be poor and hungry ones reconcile to their fate! More shockingly some of the parameters used to measure human development progress reveal a distressing trend with no ready answer for this pitiable state or ready solution to lick the problem. GDP figures or per capita income growth does not tell the true story because here is a country which has made rich people richer and poor ones poorer and average figures do not reflect the agony and anguish most people are going through! Every Indian has to hang his head in shame when confronted by global reports about the tragedy  of Indian children under a democratic dispensation! Is this the cost of development which appears to be not inclusive, benefitiing only a few people in the country?. Is there no hope or salvation to millions of impoverished people in the country who dream of just a simple life with adequate food, security and self respect? Some how the government of the day is imagining that distributing food grains at subsidized cost or badly implemented welfare schemes which never reaches the beneficiaries, will mislead the world. Reports about muti billion rupees scams in the telecom sector or coal sector or in the real estate sector, even if not proven conclusively and the alleged black money hoardings in foreign countries, do not inspire confidence that there can be a turn around in the fortunes of the poor in the forseable future. Here is an incisive analysis about the situation that is unfolding in India.

"While nutritionists and economists debate the importance of targets defined solely in calories, other data shows gains in nourishment also stalled. In the 2005 National Family Health Survey, when India last weighed, measured and counted its children for signs of hunger, it found 46 percent -- 31 million -- weighed too little for their ages, almost an entire Canada of malnourished under-three-year-olds. In 1999, that number was 47 percent. Some indicators worsened: 79 percent of children had anemia, against 74 percent in 1999; 19 percent were wasted -- weighed too little for their height -- up from 16 percent. Anemia prevents the absorption of nutrients; as do the diarrhea and other diseases caused by poor hygiene and sanitation. In sheer numbers, 4 out of 10 malnourished children in the world are Indian, more than in all of Africa. War-torn Sudan and famine-struck Eritrea had smaller percentages of malnourished children, at about 32 percent, according to the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute. India's hungry children are likely to have lower cognitive skills, grow up to be weakened workers, suffer from chronic illnesses and die prematurely, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. Hunger stalks them into adulthood too: 21 percent of all Indians are undernourished, according to Ifpri, up from 20 percent a decade ago. All of which costs the country about $68 billion a year, or almost 4 percent of GDP, according to Veena S. Rao, who heads nutrition initiatives for the government of Karnataka, the Indian state that encompasses the city of Bangalore. "The problem of malnutrition is a national shame," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in January, in one of about 50 public speeches where he has mentioned the subject. "Despite impressive growth in our gross domestic product, the level of under-nutrition in the country is unacceptably high." India has collected reliable and consistent national data on nutrition since 1972, soon after setting minimum daily intakes of about 2,100 calories a day for city residents, who are assumed to be less physically active. The level for rural- dwellers was pegged at 2,400 calories on the basis that tilling fields, harvesting crops and drawing water require greater exertion".

To add insult to injury, the head of the government proclaims from the roof top that nutrition problem is a national shame without giving any clue as to what he was doing during the last 7 years he has been in power or what plans he has, different from the past, to tackle the problem! His minister for environment seems to be obsessed with programs for building toilets in rural areas where open defecation is commonly accepted practice though one cannot find fault with his focused efforts. If people do not have sufficient food to eat what difference it makes where they defecate. The realization does not seem to be dawning on the rulers that poverty and unhygienic situation go hand in hand and unless an integrated approach is thought about no amount of money invested will show any result at the ground level. It was not long ago that administrators of toilet building program in Karnataka realized, how, within a matter of a few months , most toilets were converted into additional rooms for day to day use including for pooja purpose! The present proposal to increase the toilet grant from Rs 3500 to Rs 10000 is unlikely to improve the situation dramatically unless the hunger in the belly is doused. For this to happen, government will have to ensure that corruption in welfare programs so rampant in the country is eradicated ruthlessly so that beneficiaries get fully what is due to them. Unless and until this happens, the wheel of poverty and hunger will roll on and on with no let up!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE GALLOPING FOOD COST-HUNGER IN RICH NATIONS?

Being born in a rich country like the US or in Europe is considered a blessing because of high per capita income enjoyed by the population there. It is true that on PPP basis the citizens might not be as rich as thought to be because of high cost of living experienced there. A note worthy phenomenon which cannot escape notice of a discerning observer is the relatively low cost of the food as part of the family income. While in a country like India an average family in the lower middle class category may be spending almost 50% of the income on purchasing food and groceries, the same works out to less than 10% for a US family. In spite of constant inflation eating away part of the purchasing power of the citizen, still the food is considered affordable because of huge subsidies being showered on the farmer community by the government. In spite of the above recent reports suggest that there are significant pockets of poverty across that country with many families unable to muster even the minimum money required to buy essential foods for meeting the daily nutritional needs. A human tragedy of herculean dimension. Here is a take on this queer phenomenon.

"Food prices have risen in recent years due to growing demand in developing nations and speculative shenanigans in the commodities markets, but food in America is still cheap. As Michael Pollan noted in The New York Review of Books, President Richard Nixon reacted to a spike in food prices in the early 1970s by shifting policy from supporting price stability for farmers to increasing output of a few crops such as corn and soy (this explains why there's corn and soy in everything). As a result of this policy shift and technological gains that have increased productivity per acre, Americans spend less on food as a percentage of their income — slightly less than 10 percent — than at any time in modern history. Hunger persisted, however, because at the same time the cost of housing increased markedly, which left people with less money for food. Thankfully, the cost of housing in Las Vegas decreased with the housing bust. Still, hunger persists, though now it's because people can't find work or their income is swallowed up by medical costs."

The food inflation in many developing countries has witnessed alarming spurts and the condition in these places is not congenial for supporting a decent life style. It is not long ago the Prime Minister of India "lamented" about the sorry conditions in the country where majority of children are suffering from gross malnutrition and under nutrition with insufficient access to foods due to economic factors. It is not a solace that the government economists declaring that inflation for the last 4 weeks is less than zero though the food markets tell a different story. The fact is that there is no price stability practically for any food, especially the protective foods like fruits and vegetables and government does not seem to have any clue as to what needs to be done to make them available in plenty at affordable cost.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE GALLOPING FOOD COST-HUNGER IN RICH NATIONS?

Being born in a rich country like the US or in Europe is considered a blessing because of high per capita income enjoyed by the population there. It is true that on PPP basis the citizens might not be as rich as thought to be because of high cost of living experienced there. A note worthy phenomenon which cannot escape notice of a discerning observer is the relatively low cost of the food as part of the family income. While in a country like India an average family in the lower middle class category may be spending almost 50% of the income on purchasing food and groceries, the same works out to less than 10% for a US family. In spite of constant inflation eating away part of the purchasing power of the citizen, the food is considered affordable because of huge subsidies being showered on the farmer community by the government. In spite of the above, recent reports suggest that there are significant pockets of poverty across that country with many families unable to muster even the minimum money required to buy essential foods for meeting the daily nutritional needs. A human tragedy of herculean dimension. Here is a take on this queer phenomenon.

"Food prices have risen in recent years due to growing demand in developing nations and speculative shenanigans in the commodities markets, but food in America is still cheap. As Michael Pollan noted in The New York Review of Books, President Richard Nixon reacted to a spike in food prices in the early 1970s by shifting policy from supporting price stability for farmers to increasing output of a few crops such as corn and soy (this explains why there's corn and soy in everything). As a result of this policy shift and technological gains that have increased productivity per acre, Americans spend less on food as a percentage of their income — slightly less than 10 percent — than at any time in modern history. Hunger persisted, however, because at the same time the cost of housing increased markedly, which left people with less money for food. Thankfully, the cost of housing in Las Vegas decreased with the housing bust. Still, hunger persists, though now it's because people can't find work or their income is swallowed up by medical costs."

The food inflation in many developing countries has witnessed alarming spurts and the condition in these places is not congenial for supporting a decent life style. It is not long ago the Prime Minister of India "lamented" about the sorry conditions in the country where majority of children are suffering from gross malnutrition and under nutrition with insufficient access to foods due to economic factors. It is not a solace that the government economists declare the inflation for the last 4 weeks coming down to below zero, though the food markets tell a different story. The fact is that there is no price stability practically for any food, especially the protective foods like fruits and vegetables and government does not seem to have any clue as to what needs to be done to make them available in plenty at affordable cost. Could it be a cold comfort to people in poor countries to know that there are plenty of cousins feeling the pangs of hunger in rich countries too? In stead of trying to conquer the outer space or amassing nuclear bombs, world must redirect its resources, efforts, energy and focus on eradicating poverty where ever it exists and restore the human dignity.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

FOOD FOR THE MASSES-THE HARSH REAILTIES IN INDIA

Here is a well analyzed commentary on food situation in India and the unpardonable mismanagement by the country during the last few years. Probably every Indian will have to hang his head in shame when it is widely known that that the country ranks very low when it comes to looking after its hungry citizens and malnourished children. Is there no accountability in the country to pin point the crime of mismanagement on those responsible for it and bring them to books for this abysmal situation? May be  it is time for an inquisition into the past, punish those who did not do what they were supposed to do and set right the priorities. Of course with the political situation as it is to day, there is no hope that the country will ever be able to pull out of this quagmire in the foreseeable future!    

IT'S A paradox of plenty. At a time when India ranks 67th among 81 countries in the 2011 Global Hunger Index prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute, mountains of grain continue to rot in godowns while more recently, irate farmers spilled tonnes of potatoes on the streets in Punjab. A few months ago, it was tomato farmers in Jharkhand, and then it was the turn of onion growers in Rajasthan. And if you think this is a recent phenomenon, you are mistaken. I have seen this happening for nearly 25 years now across the country at regular intervals. Disgusting, isn't it? Well, the visuals of food rotting speak volumes of the criminal apathy, neglect and callousness with which we, as a nation, have failed to address the shameful scourge of hunger. For a country that has the dubious distinction of having the largest population of hungry in the world — close to 320 million — and with 42 percent of children officially clubbed as malnourished, the spectacle of massive quantities of food being allowed to go waste is an unpardonable crime. What is still worse is that hunger proliferates in a country that claims to be the world's largest democracy. For nearly five years, procurement has hovered at 50-60 million tonnes. Someone had worked it out that if we keep a bag of grain over another, and stack 60 million tonnes in a vertical row, we could actually walk to the moon and back. With so much of surplus grain, and with unmanageable quantities of fruits and vegetables rotting by the roadside, there is no justification for growing hunger. At the same time, it is baffling to find staple food being exported while the population of the hungry and malnourished continues to multiply. No wonder, hunger continues to keep pace with economic growth. Over the years, farming has become a big gamble. It is not only the worrisome vagaries of weather that more often than not plays havoc, farmers are also faced with a strange phenomenon — produce and perish. Take the case of Suryabhagwan, a farmer in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. This year, he voluntarily announced that he would rather work as a 'coolie' than undertake paddy cultivation. Already under heavy debt and knowing that another season of paddy cultivation will only add to his indebtedness, his call for a 'crop holiday' soon reverberated. Within weeks, the idea spread like wildfire, with the result that now more than 1 lakh hectares in the two irrigated districts of East and West Godavari lie barren. AP is a paddy growing area. While production has been steadily on an upswing over the years, adequate market infrastructure for procurement has not been created. The result is that despite a very high production capacity, there is little space for storage. This is not only true of AP or for that matter Punjab and Haryana, the country's food bowl, but extends to the whole country. The tragedy manifested after the initial years of the Green Revolution, when food became abundantly available. The focus then shifted away from agriculture. With public sector investment drastically falling over the past few decades, agriculture was left at the mercy of the rain gods. Protecting every single grain of food produced to feed the growing population of deprived sections never became a national priority. While production increased, the accompanying market and storage infrastructure were not created. India does not even have the capacity to handle and absorb an excess production of 5 percent, whether it is of wheat, potato or cotton. Whatever the policymakers may say, the neglect of agriculture was deliberate. It is essentially designed to open up agriculture to private investment. Farmers have been the victims of a bigger and hidden design to push them out of agriculture. The more they produce, the more they suffer. Produce and perish, and thereby make way for corporate agriculture.

In stark contrast look at India's neighbor on the northern side which has systematically tackled its hunger problem through sustained and purposeful agricultural policies in the past to become a major food producer with sizable surplus for export. The argument that a democratic country like India does not have the same elbow room to emulate China is a lot of Hogwash! If really there is a concern all around regarding the grave situation existing in India and about its bleak future, let there be a National Government with required mandate to evolve a tangible work plan to tackle some of the major problems on a mission mode within a time frame. Probably this may be a cry in the wilderness!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

HUNGER AMIDST PLENTY-THE INDIAN PARADOX

It is true that India is a land of many paradoxes in every field of human activity. While democracy is preached day in and day out, for many citizens it is more a combination of bureaucracy and aristocracy that control the economy with very little focus on the perennial poverty stricken population. Here is a commentary on the ironical situation that prevails in the country reflecting the frustration being felt all around.

"There is no other country that presents a more shameful paradox of plenty- grains rotting in the open while millions live in hunger. At the same time, no other country allows its staple food to be exported while the population of hungry and malnourished continues to multiply".---- "In the United States, from where India borrows its economic prescriptions, food is only allowed to be exported after the country ensures that in addition to 309 million people, 168 million cats and dogs have also been well-fed. In India, food — and that includes wheat, rice, maize, pulses, fruit and vegetables — is routinely exported, and the government often provides subsidies to offset the losses incurred in trade"----"In America, where one in every six citizen lives in hunger, it provides a massive federal support of US $ 205 billion for a period of five years to feed its hungry under various nutrition supplement programmes. This marks a continuous increase over the year. In India, which has the world's largest population of hungry, the food subsidy bill is proposed to be pruned, from Rs 56,000-crore for 2010-11 to Rs 28,000-crore, under the proposed National Food Security bill".

Why is that the planners, administrators, social scientists and economists do not see the writing on the wall and do some thing to arrest this drifting trend? Hopes were raised when a truly accomplished economist of international repute took over as the Prime Minister of this country but after 6 years of his rule, common man does not see any thing positive happening to cheer about. On the contrary people are being crushed under the burden of uncontrolled food inflation and all round shortage of critical food materials. Is this country heading for a crisis of Himalayan proportion, with no solution in sight? No wonder people are flocking in increasing numbers to places of worship like temples, mosques, synagogues and churches, seeking divine intervention to overcome their woes!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

"BRIC" STRATEGY-COMBATING HUNGER THROUGH COOPERATION

Associations of countries in any form is supposed to provide a collective forum for consultation and cooperation in areas of interest common to the member countries. United Nations Organization and its many affiliated agencies formed after the last world war have almost all independent countries as members and one of the biggest achievements has been prevention of another world war for the last 60 years. There are many regional groups like ASEAN, SAARC, BRIC etc formed specifically to protect the common interests of countries bound by some well defined objectives. India which is a member of BRIC, a loose grouping of Brazil, Russia, India and China, is hoping to be benefited by the strength of other member countries in many areas of critical importance to its growth and development. The most recent meeting at Moscow, focusing on agriculture can herald a new era if member countries take the deliberations seriously.

"I feel that Bric has huge potential for cooperation in combating hunger and ensuring food security through coordinated approaches in modernising farming and inducting environment-friendly technologies," Pawar said at the end of his three-day visit to the Russian capital during which he attended the maiden session of the Bric agriculture ministers. The summit of the leaders of the four fastest emerging economies on April 16 in Brazil will be briefed on the outcome of the first-ever meeting of the farm ministers. Pawar said the experts group set up by the Bric farm ministers yesterday to help combat hunger and climate change will comprise the heads of the relevant institutes of the four-nation informal grouping.

It is refreshing that in an era of secrecy and intellectual property rights dominating the business landscape across the world, the four most populous countries representing more than 60% of world population are coming together and resolve to cooperate for the benefits of their population. The BRIC summit, coming up in April this year must give definitive shape to concrete action oriented programs with achievement mile stones to be achieved with in a short time frame. It should not degenerate into a photo-op session, wasting the time and dousing the aspirations of people yearning for food security and peaceful co-existence.

V.H.POTTY

http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

GLOBAL INEQUITY-PERPETUATING THE MISERY!

No matter how many meetings take place under the WTO for establishing really free trade amongst member nations, the issue of overcoming inequities that exist amongst the population in the third world is not going to be solved unless rich nations come forward to remove many distortions in their economies that contribute to the miserable situation vis-à-vis hunger in the developing world. Huge subsidies regime that exists in Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand and many other developed countries continue to deny market access to third world countries many of them depending on exports of raw agri commodities.

"The promotion of social and economic equity, which the WHO and many civil society organizations maintain is central to respecting human rights obligations in health, therefore depends upon "narrowing the gap" between the worst off and best off over time. This process involves "a progressive flattening of the health gradient", says the WHO Commission, by improving the health of all social groups to a level closer to that of the most advantaged. Put simply, the unacceptable discrepancy in living standards between the developed and developing countries, with almost half the world — some 2.5 billion people — living on less than US$2 a day, is a fundamental factor in the global crisis of ill health".

Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) continue to hinder export of foods from poor countries to affluent nations and such measures come in many forms which often are arbitrary in nature. In spite of the existence of WTO for so long, nothing seems to have changed in reality. There is some substance in the concept of TCDC which was evolved a few years ago to foster better technical cooperation amongst developing countries for solving their problems themselves, instead of cringing for "aid' from those few fortunate wealthy ones.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com