ALL ABOUT TOILETS AND CLEANLINESS-THE NEW CAMPAIGN

During the last 2-3 days citizens in India are bombarded with the three words-"Swachh Bharath Abhiyan" by the voracious media, electronic as well as the news papers through saturated news coverage of the Gandhi jayanti celebrations. For an average citizen such high visible and high decibel coverage can only create skepticism whether any thing will happen to the cherished dream of Mahatma Gandhi to make India a clean country so that people can live without diseases and other adverse consequences of filthy environment. Whether it is Swachh Bharath or Nirmal Bharath, the name has very little relevance as long as there is tangible progress at the ground level. With a massive out go of more than Rs 2 lakh crore over a 5-year period, this particular program will definitely make some impact though no one can be sure regarding the potential, inherent in such a massive  government scheme for misappropriation of funds and mega financial scams. But the purpose behind the Abhiyan is noble and its successful implementation can change the face of this country. Here is one of the reports that highlight the details of this latest initiative from the new central government.        

The urban component of the Mission is proposed to be implemented over 5 years starting from October 2, 2014 in all 4,041 statutory towns. The total expected cost of the programme is Rs 62,009 crore, out of which the proposed central assistance will be of Rs 14,623 crore. The Cabinet had last month decided to merge the 'Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan', a campaign for rural sanitation with Swachh Bharat Mission. The Prime Minister countered Congress criticism that his government behaves as if everything happened only after he came to power. "I do not make any claim that the government, which has been elected to power just now, has done everything." Congress has been attacking Modi accusing him of taking credit of initiatives undertaken by the UPA regimes and trying to give an impression that every good work was done only by him. Recalling that he had congratulated all governments even from the ramparts of Red Fort, Modi said,"even today from this stage, I greet and salute all the governments--central, state and municipal, social organizations which have worked in this direction, whether they are leaders from Sarvodaya or workers of Seva Dal. I launch this programme with their blessings." Maintaining that everybody deserves kudos, the Prime Minister asked not to get into making political barbs on the issue. "Everybody before us has worked for it. Under Mahatma Gandhi's leadership, the Congress had led it...Who was successful, who was not. Let us not get into it who has done it, who has not. We should work responsibly," he said. While ruing that 60 percent of populace in rural areas still defecate in open, the Prime Minister said the stigma of women lacking toilet facilities has to be removed. Modi said that he has requested the corporates to evolve plans under corporate social responsibility to build clean toilets specially for girl students in schools. India, he said, should learn from foreign countries, where people are disciplined and do not litter in public places. He said though it is a difficult task, it can be achieved and for that people will have to change their habits. The Prime Minister said that a campaign has been unleashed on the social media as well where a separate website for the mission has been launched and he is tweeting about the drive on his Twitter handle. Expressing confidence that the nation can achieve the target of becoming one of cleanest in the world, the Prime Minister dwelt upon the low cost success of the Mars Orbiter Mission. "If people of India can reach Mars with minimal expenditure, why can they not keep their streets and colonies clean," he said asking people to take up the responsibility to make the mission a success. He also wondered whether the task can only be left only to the government to accomplish. "If we make it a public movement, we can make our country being counted as one among the cleanest nations," he said. The Prime Minister, who earlier in the day visited the 'samadhi' of Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on their birth anniversary, said while the countrymen launched a movement and achieved freedom realizing one of the slogans of Father of the nation, there is now a need to fulfil his other vision of 'clean India'. He also chose the occassion to compliment two persons Anant from Maharashtra and Bhagyashree from Gujarat, who designed the logo of the campaign (Gandhi's spectacles) and the slogan "Ek Kadam Swachhata Ki Or" respectively. "I am seeing that Gandhi is looking through these specs that whether we have made India clean or not, what we have done and what we have done," he said. Quoting a WHO estimate, he said a person in India loses about Rs 6,500 per annum due to illness and poor health as he is unable to perform day-to-day duties.He said if the surroundings are kept clean, then people will remain healthy and such losses can be minimised."

According to the Prime Minister average spending by a typical citizen in this country on medical bills to fight diseases caused by filthy living environment works to about Rs 6500 per year and the financial out lay for the Abhiyan can be justified if the disease incidences are brought down by undertaking appropriate projects to clean up the rural and urban areas over the next 5 years. Government intent to transfer Rs 20 lakh each per year over the next 5 years to 2.47 lakh gram panchayats in the country for constructing covered toilets is very laudable provided there is strict monitoring of expenditure and financial accountability. The shame of this country that almost 49% of the population defecate in the open even after 67 years of Independence is a stigma on the politicians and administrators who governed this country during this period. Similarly spending Rs 62000 crore on 4401 urban entities to improve the environmental and living conditions of people can achieve a lot if it is spent responsibly. As the PM said rightly, no amount of financial out lay can achieve any thing lastingly unless people change their attitude towards hygiene and sanitation. It is here that the schools have to play a vital role by inculcating among kids about the significance of cleanliness in every aspect of life if they are to become a responsible citizen of tomorrow. The new government will do well by better focusing on this important area to reform the schools, the teaching community and the syllabus on a mission mode.

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

FOOD, SUSTAINABILITY AND HUMAN HEALTH-NEW DIETARY POLICY

Human health has been the primary concern during the last few decades of food and nutrition research and from time to time pearls of wisdom used to be offered by this expert community for the benefit of the citizens and policy makers. Alas, where this has taken the world to as the extent of health related problems and deterioration of the environment due to mindless/reckless exploitation of the resources of this planet is mind boggling. Though there is a late realization that increased meat consumption and ever expanding demand for meat products could cause a plethora of health afflictions, at the ground level there is no evidence that meat consumption rate is coming down. On the contrary many countries on the threshold of economic development have population with higher purchasing capacity and bigger aspirations whose appetite for meat foods is continuously growing! Americans are in the forefront as far as industrial production of meat foods, especially beef products is concerned while addiction to pork is galloping in the new economic super power country, China. Millions of farms across the world raise meat animals like poultry birds, cows, buffaloes, pigs and sheep/goats whose population is in billions, slaughtered every day to satiate the hunger for meat from the carnivorous segment of global population numbering over 6 billion out of the 7 billion people inhabiting this planet. If environmental scientists are to be believed these animals constitute the largest threat as far as green house gas emission is concerned. What is reprehensible is the prevarication among policy makers regarding any positive policy orchestration that will discourage people from eating animal derived foods. Against such a background comes the refreshing news that American authorities are considering seriously to enunciate policies that will guide their citizens to change over to a diet containing more and more plant foods and reduce meat consumption to the minimum. Here is a take on this.

"Every five years the federal government issues dietary guidelines to provide practical advice for healthy eating. There have been instructions to eat more whole grains and less saturated fat, sugar, and sodium. The 2015 update for the first time may tell Americans to pay attention to how their food is grown, not just what's in it. In July the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, a 14-member panel appointed by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, circulated a draft document that suggests Americans reduce their consumption of meat and dairy and eat more plant-based foods. The draft was based on studies showing that lowering meat consumption cuts greenhouse gas emissions, lessening the contribution our eating habits make to climate change. Final guidelines are due to be issued in late 2015. Earlier versions of the dietary guidelines, which form the basis for federal food and nutrition programs like subsidized school lunches, have encouraged Americans to eat leaner meat, but not to eat less meat altogether. "A dietary pattern that is higher in plant-based food and lower in animal-based foods is more health-promoting and is associated with lesser environmental impacts—energy, land, and water use—than the current average American diet," Miriam Nelson, a Tufts University nutrition professor who chairs the advisory panel's subcommittee on food sustainability and safety, said at a public meeting in September. Members of the advisory panel declined to be interviewed. The panel's embrace of sustainability has drawn fierce opposition from conservatives. The House Appropriations Committee instructed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who is responsible for approving the final guidelines along with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, to make sure the committee doesn't "pursue an environmental agenda." Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank focused on environmental issues, recently issued a five-page report titled "Meet the 'green' radicals who want to plan your menu." Some in the meat industry also oppose the proposed dietary guideline change. "We agree that more plant foods should be consumed, but not at the expense of nutrient-dense protein," Betsy Booren, vice president for scientific affairs at the American Meat Institute, said in a statement after the draft came out in July. Marion Nestle, a New York University nutrition professor and critic of the food industry's influence on policy, applauded the advisory panel for making the connection between environmental protection and healthy eating. "We don't have an agricultural policy linked to health policy," says Nestle, who served on the dietary guidelines panel in 1995. "We should."

As with any other issues, the confrontation between herbivores and carnivores is also a controversial area, each side marshaling data to justify their stand. Added to this is the powerful meat lobby which stands to lose if there is a tectonic shift in food consumption behavior of the population in favor of plant foods. There are also a few nutrition apologists who are sticking to their unsubstantiated stand that non-plant foods do not provide good nutrition and ensure healthy growth of children which is a slap in the face of more than a billion population who are vegetarians by culture, faith, religion and conviction. India which is predominantly a vegetarian country by nature and economic compulsions survived for centuries with minimum adverse impact on health of its population. Their abstinence from meat eating has in no way diminished their talents or mental agility even a wee bit as Gujarati Jains, Marwadis of Rajasthan and Iyer population of Tamilnadu have produced some of the best performers in fields like business, administration and other human endeavors. Now that a nation like the US with almost 100% of the population carnivores is turning around and appreciating the virtues of plant foods in preference to meat foods, it is time the world wakes up to follow its example and save this planet from slow annihilation!   

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

MAGIC OF BRANDING-SUCCESS OF MALTED BEVERAGES IN INDIA

If successful promotion through well articulated advertisements in visual media is an indication that these foods are healthy and nutritious, most junk foods marketed by many multinational food companies will be eligible for the tag! But it is a known fact that most of these foods are inimical to the health of most of the consumers who believe the words of the industry and buy them day in and day out. To day's obesity epidemic is a product of such foolish buying tendency among consumers in almost all parts of the world. India also is not an exception as reflected by a recent report in a business magazine which highlighted the success of a product, an iconic one with 80 years of history behind it through sheer branding and intense promotion through saturation advertisements in visual media across the country.

"Meanwhile, Horlicks went a step ahead to appear as the premier health drink for the family. It created one of the most popular TV campaigns with its 'Why do I drink Horlicks?' commercial in the 1980s. Vignettes of people from different walks of testifying why they loved Horlicks was an early instance of slice-of-life advertising. By the 1990s, Horlicks was beginning to change, targeting specific consumer segments rather than the entire family. Company executives say that the health food drink market was evolving and developed niches. Extensions such as Junior Horlicks, targeting children between one-three years of age surfaced as early as 1995. By the first decade of this millennium, Horlicks had variants such as Horlicks Lite (2005) targeting diabetics and Horlicks nutribars (2006) in its portfolio. A few years later, extensions such as Womens Horlicks and Mother's Horlicks were also added. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare EVP (marketing) Jayant Singh said that Horlicks' extensions in many respects have helped grow the market: "To grow the category, either you improve width or depth of consumption. At times, we have grown width, at times depth". Singh says that women who buy the product were becoming discerning. So in 2005, it came up with 'Taller Stronger Sharper' following clinical tests that showed it aided bone and muscle health of children. In 2010, Horlicks was40 Years Ago...and now: From family nourisher to individual supplement coinciding with its extension into biscuits and cereal bars (noodles were launched in 2009 and oats in 2011). While in 2012, it was positioned as a drink fortified with 26 vital nutrients that aided the five important signs of growth".

What is not clear is how can a product containing malt extract be positioned as a health food because nutritionists have established the adverse effect of reducing sugars like maltose on protein utilization in human body. Amino acid-reducing sugar reaction is supposed to bind the active moiety in protein making it inaccessible to protease enzymes present in stomach excretions and if this is so adding malt extract containing products to milk can reduce the protein efficiency ratio values of even the milk proteins. However it must be conceded that malt flavor is universally liked and beverages containing malt extract can make the final product highly appealing to the palate of children and adults alike. It is also to be noted that malt extract containing beverage products are unique to India and nowhere else in the world they have any significant market. Considering these facts food scientists in India must take up this issue with FSSAI regarding the advisability of allowing unsubstantiated claims by the malted beverage manufacturers about the health benefits being touted by them.

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

FOOD CRAVINGS AND BRAIN STIMULATION

Overweight and obesity are concerns that span across the world though the population in developed country are more vulnerable because of their higher purchasing capacity compared to their counter parts in poor countries. But whether there is any correlation between economic factors and food craving seen among over weight people is still a matter of debate. Some experts believe that over eating is more a disease and those indulging in gluttony need treatment. Some others think the food industry is to be blamed for supplying cheap foods with empty calories with practically no nutritive value. Adding to the confusion is that fact some people even if they eat more calories than they really need still do not put on weight. The white fat vs brown fat debate that propounds the theory that those with higher brown fat do not put on unnecessary weight is still going on without any unequivocal conclusion. Ultimately every one agrees that consuming more calories than required by the body, without burning them through exercise, can be the major cause for overweight. Here comes another report that says that the brain is the culprit in making people eat more food through cravings and there is a possibility of reducing these cravings through electric stimulation of certain part of the brain. Read more details about this from the below referred report

"A new study conducted by the University of Waterloo explains the link between a certain part of brain and craving high-calorie food.According to the researchers, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is an area in brain that is involved in 'execution function'. Previous researches have established that DLPFC has a vital role to play in regulating food cravings. The team carried out an experiment on 21 women who frequently craved calorie-dense foods. These women were first shown pictures of high-calorie foods to stimulate their craving. The experts then applied magnetic stimulation to their DLPFC. It was found that this theta-burst stimulation resulted in reducing craving pangs for high-calorie foods in these women. During a subsequent "taste test," these women consumed more of these foods, rather than alternative, less-appetizing foods (dark chocolate and soda crackers). Stimulation to weaken DLPFC activity was also associated with lower performance on a test of inhibitory control strength. The study was published in Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society. According to the study, decreased DLPFC activity appeared to be associated with increased "reward sensitivity" and made the participants "more sensitive to the rewarding properties of palatable high caloric foods," the researchers said. The experts explained how people with weak executive function may lack the dietary self-control which plays a crucial role in regulating calorie-dense foods. Those who struggle to maintain this self-control may be more likely to become overweight or obese. DLPFC stimulation may come as a boon to them. At the "basic neurobiological level," the study provides direct evidence that the DLPFC is involved in one specific aspect of food cravings - reward anticipation. The team therefore concluded that with minor magnetic stimulation to a person's DLPFC, one's craving for high-calorie foods can be manipulated accordingly. This can aid in keeping a check on the rising levels of global obesity and associated diseases." 

It is crazy that those who eat uncontrollably had to be taken to a neurologist for brain treatment to curb their cravings! But if the findings are true,magnetic stimulation of DLPFC  could be a treatment procedure at least for a few people who are grossly obese requiring medical intervention. What is unclear in this report is whether such procedures have to applied throughout life or whether a regimen of treatment can cure such people of their cravings. Probably further work may be necessary to bring more clarity to the findings of the above group.

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


              

ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT PATHOGENS-A NEW APPROACH TO OVER COME THE PROBLEM

Antibiotic resistance is a subject of great concern because almost all antibiotics known to man are ineffective in killing a few highly dangerous pathogens because gross misuse of these drugs at every level of human activities. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics by medical industry, food industry and animal food industry in many case at sub-lethal doses give an opportunity to some microorganisms to develop adequate biological mechanism to make them ineffective or non-lethal. Added to this there is very little progress in discovering new and more powerful antibiotics during the last 3 decades as such endeavors are preposterously costly beyond the economic capacity of private industry. It is in this context that the reported development of a new tool to deal with antibiotic resistant pathogens by a group of scientists from MIT, Boston gives hope for counteracting future epidemics involving such dangerous pathogens.

"The unique approach could be used to genetically engineer bacteria in our bodies to become less dangerous.The technology might also lead to new treatments for metabolic diseases like obesity, the researchers claim. Scientists and politicians have warned that we face a return to the medical "dark ages" if action is not taken against antibiotic resistance.The human body houses ten times more bacterial cells than human ones. This community of bacteria is termed the microbiome and its importance in keeping us healthy is increasingly recognised. One of the problems with current antibiotics is "they hit not only the bad bacteria but also the good bacteria," explained Professor Timothy Lu of the Synthetic Biology Center at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who led the team carrying out the new research. "It allows the bad bacteria to flourish." In a series of laboratory experiments published in Nature Biotechnology, the researchers showed they could produce a molecular "conditional-lethality device" capable of highly targeted action against the "bad" bacteria in a consortium of different strains.The new antibiotic uses an RNA-guided nuclease called a "Crispr"to hunt down and chop up target genes inside bacterial cells."

How far this development will get transferred into commercial technology is an unknown factor and only time will unfold the potential of the findings. One of the advantages of this new technology is the antibiotic under the scanner is selective in attacking only the pathogenic bacteria while sparing harmless and beneficial ones that reside in human body. Considering that antibiotic resistant pathogens pose a universal threat to humanity, there is an urgent need for international agencies like WHO to support the MIT project to bring to fruition the scientific findings reported above.

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

  

TRAINING OF TRAINERS-SPREADING FOOD AND NUTRITION AWARENESS

Food, nutrition, health, eating habits and sanitation are subjects which are usually confined among experts and scientists. Inculcating healthy eating is a responsibility shared equally by the parents of growing kids at home and by the teachers in schools where kids go at least 200 days an year. The big question is how far the parents and teachers know about these subjects and poorly informed and ignorant parents and teachers cannot be expected to teach the children correctly and adequately. Going further down, only adequately exposed children can become good parents of tomorrow who in turn can transfer their knowledge and experience to their kids. Thus school teachers are the vital cogs in the education of kids vis-a-vis food related issues. The FDA of USA and the teachers' association in that country are doing wonderful work in training teachers for such a job so that they can train the children in making them practice eating good foods with high nutrition content and adhering to scientific hygiene and sanitation habits. Read further below to understand fully the implications of the program being undertaken in America to train the school teachers.  

"One way to teach kids about food safety and nutrition is to teach their teachers. That's the idea behind a training program the Food and Drug Administration has been running for the past 15 years. "Science and Our Food Supply" is a week-long program held in the summer that brings together teachers from all over the country who teach biology, chemistry, food science and health. Its aim is to improve food safety and nutrition education in schools using a curriculum co-developed by FDA and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), which looks at the science behind issues such as foodborne illnesses.The participants learn about the journey of food from farm to table, basic microbiology techniques, FDA's role in regulating products, new research on food safety, nutrition and nutrition labeling, and food allergies. This year, 32 teachers from 22 states participated and then returned to their own schools to teach the curriculum to students and hold day-long sessions to train their fellow teachers."

It is rather a mystery as to why Indian education planners are ignoring this respect, considering that children form their habits fairly early in their life and undesirable and inappropriate habits imbibed early in life will be difficult to be changed later. A body like NCERT in India can do wonders by introducing basic concepts of food and its allied aspects in text books designed for school going kids at the age of 5-8 years and undertake a national endeavor of training teachers through short term abridged programs at the national, regional and state levels. It can always depend on scientific bodies like CFTRI, DFRL, NIN, NIFTEM. Universities etc to provide experts in transferring the technical information to teachers through well designed programs, especially during vacation times when teachers do not have much teaching load. This is the only way to transform India into "Swacha Bharath" , as being propagated by the present Prime Minister of the country.  

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

              

PROTECTIONISM-DOES IT HERALD A NEW ERA?

It was a recent news which appeared in India that Rs 25000 crore worth of imported foods were lying in various ports in the country for want of clearance by the food safety authorities on technical grounds. Unfortunately in the name of food safety these food products with definitive expiry dates are being allowed to be lost with benefit neither to the importers nor to the consumers. There is a feeling that such large scale detention of imported foods may be a sort of protectionism rearing its ugly head all over the world either due to local food lobbies seeking protection from low cost products into the country and can be theoretically considered as TBT-technical barrier to trade which WTO does not allow. But it could also be a genuine problem of transient nature which government of India must address immediately. This reminds one of the happenings in the Italy-Austria borders in December last when farmer interests from Italy blocked flow of food products into their country alleging that the reputation of Italian brand was being destroyed by cheap imitations and raw ingredients which are processed in their country before labeling as Italian made! Look at the incongruity of the situation by reading the excerpts of report referred below:   

Thousands of Italian farmers blocked the Brenner Pass at the border with Austria on Wednesday, protesting against food piracy and import of raw food ingredients of low quality. Agricultural association Coldiretti claimed the so-called"false Italian food" (i.e. food made with foreign ingredients, but branded as Italian) is badly damaging the traditional agricultural and food production in Italy."Many products are partially or totally made with ingredients coming from abroad, but since they are assembled or processed in our country they can be sold as 'Italian foods', and this ruins our original production," Rolando Manfredini, quality manager with Coldiretti explained to Xinhua. This allegedly unfair competition has resulted in the closing of around 140 thousand agricultural businesses between 2007 and 2013, according to figures released by Coldiretti and Unioncamere, the Association of the Italian Chambers of Commerce. Around 32.500 cattle sheds and farming businesses have disappeared just in 2013, with a loss of 36 thousand jobs in the farmlands, they said.

WTO is supposed to ensure free flow of trade across borders with least barriers and there are adequate provisions for preventing cheap products being dumped in any country which can have adverse impact on the domestic industry. Europeans should not forget that they belong to a unified country group with practically no borders and if this is so the stand taken by Italian traders cannot be justified. While Italy has every right to oversee the quality of products entering its territory, the excuse that raw ingredients coming into Italy for conversion into value added products harms its interests will not stand critical scrutiny. There is another tendency which is emerging in some wealthy countries trying to declare on the label the country of origin boldly so that consumers can shun products from some countries and in the name of patriotism citizens are forced to buy locally made products. When responsibility for the safety of any food product imported rests with the importing company with valid license, where is this need for declaration separately the country of origin? More over products imported into any country must conform to that country's standards and safety bar. WTO must truly work to ensure that the world really works as a global village with no barriers to honest trade.

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