American consumer, the law makers and the Science-A big cauldron waiting to boil over!

Though genetically modified foods are predominantly produced and marketed in the United States, most consumers are either unaware of it or are helpless to do any thing to stem this trend of overwhelming GMO containing foods. The safety or otherwise of GMO foods is still a matter that divides humanity into opposing camps, one section finding no fault with them while the others vehemently loathing them. The gravity of the problem can be realized from the fact that even among scientists there is no consensus on this issue and how can one blame the consumer to take a stand on this burning issue. Whatever it is, in the US of to day consumers have no choice but to accept foods made from GMO raw materials and ingredients unless one has the wherewithal to spend a fortune to switch over to 100% organic foods. The fight that is going on to day in that country centers around the so called constitutional right of the citizen to know what he is eating and for that what they are asking is to just declare on the label of products whether GMO ingredients are there or not in the food packet. A well reasoned demand though the industry, politicians and bureaucrats do not think so, obviously because of pecuniary considerations.

Look at the stand taken by the safety watch dogs in that country viz Food and Drug Administration and US Dept of Agriculture both of which considers genetically altered foods "practically" same as their natural counterparts and therefore felt there is no need to specifically mention about their presence in any food on the label. One is left with the impression that the US wants to be a unique country in swimming against international views on almost all issues, probably because of the arrogance of power, being the only super power left in the global landscape after the demise of erstwhile Soviet Union. Other wise it is difficult to explain why it is cocking a snook at 64 other countries which have made label declaration about GMO foods mandatory! Why is this happening in a country which is supposed to be the beacon for all democracies in the world? Obvious answer is the nexus among politicians, bureaucrats and industry lobbyists to deny the consumer his right and make unholy money for their own welfare!

A peep into the American situation will reveal this paradox. According to recent reports a fierce food fight is going on in the Congress over the labeling of genetically engineered foods.with a substantial section of the law makers trying to block any move to enforce mandatory labeling of GMO foods in any part of the country. Is it not a paradox that in a federal system of governance, where states enjoy high degree of freedom to legislate, their right is being usurped by the federal government through an insidious bill that will block the power of states to enact any law that will mandate compulsory labeling of GMO foods! Who are these law makers trying to help? Of course the GMO industry giants who have a stranglehold on the American economy through their close nexus with politicians. This attempt comes in the wake of three states already putting on the statute book law that requires labeling of foods marketed in their area. Attempts in the past by some big states like California to legislate on similar lines were frustrated by saturated misleading campaign by the GMO lobby pumping millions of dollars to brain wash the voters. 

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The attempt to pass a law called "Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act" if passed asks for setting up a voluntary nationwide labeling system overseen by the federal government. This bill, popularly renamed by the consumer activist groups as "DARK Act", acronym for Deny All the Right to Know" Act! Protagonists of GMO foods invariably argue that about 90 percent of the corn, soybeans and cotton grown in the U.S. are genetically engineered, meaning that the crops have been artificially altered to use less water or resist pests and no calamity has befallen in the country. Also other supporters cite the clearance given by The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization all of them who have deemed all GMOs on the market as safe. 

However a major chunk of the consumer community is not convinced fully about the safety of such foods because of the common perception that industry does not have the well being of the citizens in their mind, relentlessly pursuing efforts to increase their profits and the scandals surrounding presence of unsafe chemicals hormones, steroids, transfats,etc further reinforce their distrust about the products churned out by the manufacturers. 

At present there are no government-approved labels to let consumers in the U.S. know which foods are derived from GMOs.It is funny that the US Government wants to leave to individual manufacturers to make any label declaration to indicate that their products are free from GMO ingredients without taking any responsibility to verify such claims! That has prompted many companies to advertise their food as "Non-GMO" by taking the services of existing Non-GMO Project which is a private nonprofit outfit floated by retailers. The group is claimed to be testing food products and do product segregation practices to verify that products with its butterfly seal contain less than 1 percent GMO ingredients. Can it be a long term solution when millions of consumers expect their government to come to their rescue by overseeing such label claims to infuse confidence in such products? If mandatory labeling is anathema to the political class which runs the country, least they can do is to set up a dedicated authority to verify claims of manufacturers that their products are free from GMO substances.Will this happen?  Depends on the intensity of struggle by the consumers on the government to sensitize them on this critical issue.

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

Organic foods with pesticide residue? An unenviable Indian situation!

Organic foods are supposed to be free from pesticides as the they are produced using no chemicals at all. Though some countries like the US permit limited use of chemicals and still call the product organic, this is not an acceptable option in many other countries. Fear of adverse effect of "artificial" or unnatural substances in raising crops or meat animals or during processing drive consumers in droves to the open arms of the organic food industry, willingly paying almost 50-100% more prices for them. But is the consumer guaranteed about the genuineness of organic foods, branded by the industry or is there an overseeing agency mandated to monitor the market and ensure the consumer is not defrauded? Obviously such controls by regulatory authorities in countries like India are at best nebulous. With such an unfettered access to the market, fraudsters and deceitful producers are having a field day! 

It is not that Indian government has not done any thing to encourage organic farming and processing but the progress in bringing the organic food industry to international level is less than encouraging. Organic food market world wide is estimated at $ 50 billion (bn) and current cultivation covers an area of 35 million (mn) hectares, spread of 141 countries involving more than 1.2 mn producers. Australia is the pioneering country that sets the agenda for organic food production and innovations related to it. USA is the major producing and consuming country accounting for more than 40% of global production. Compared to this India produces about 0.12 mn tons valued at $ 20 mn,  the cultivation area being mentioned as 2.5 mn hectares but these figures are some what skewed because a more reliable estimate puts it at 40, 000 hectares. India produces and exports about 30 products under the organic product banner which include Basmati rice, mango pulp, pineapple pulp, cashew nut, sesame, honey, walnut, spices, coffee, tea and tea and Indian products are imported into more than 70 countries through out the world.. 

Standards for organic foods are not uniform in all countries and even definition of what constitutes an organic food varies some what among the producers. In the US one can see 100% organic, 95% organic, 70%  organic etc throwing lot of consumers into confusion. World standards, about 61 in number, accepted among most nations include IFoam, Codex, EU, Demeter, JAS etc. In 2000 India government came out with the National Program for Organic Products (NPOP) to organize the production on a scientific footing and National Standards for Organic Products were set up to monitor the industry. Presently Agricultural Product Export Development Authority (APEDA) has been vested with the task of ensuring quality standards for organic products produced in the country. There are 11 accredited certification agency approved by the National Accreditation Board for checking the veracity of claims made by the industry vis-a-vis organic foods.

The malpractices in Indian organic food industry came to light recently when Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, came out with its findings that many organic food samples tested in Delhi by it contained pesticide residue. According to this institute its laboratory analysis showed 33% of the samples it checked  during the last two years containing pesticide residues which are not supposed to be there at all as per mandatory regulations. Probably it may be a shock for the consumers but the practice of using pesticides must have been there since long without any hindrance from any quarters. The vegetables that tested positive for pesticides included brinjal, ladyfinger, tomato, capsicum, chillies, cabbage, cauliflower, coriander and green peas. Many were found to contain residues from multiple pesticides. Dearth of reliable brands and sources is posing a major challenge to genuine buyers of organic foods in the country. Consumers have to be convinced about the authenticity of the organic food certification as only such a situation will  ensure that organic food product conforms to the respective national standards established by the certification procedures set out in 2000. 

What is disturbing is that this fact was known since last two years from the on-going testing program in IARI in Delhi, located just a few kilometers from the offices of APEDA, the government agency earmarked for certifying organic foods and supposedly to be looking after the welfare of Indians domestically and other citizens in importing countries where Indian products are exported! Can such callousness be condoned? World over organic food industry is growing at a fast pace and to day the value of these "safe"products churned out by the industry is about 1% of that by the mainstream industry which generates a business volume worth $ 5 trillion. If India continues to neglect the organic food industry by not putting in place an effective surveillance mechanism soon, the faith and trust of dedicated consumers wedded to organic foods will be badly shaken, if not lost once for all. Millions of denizens across the world want their children at least to grow in an environment not vitiated by the main stream food industry which uses thousands of chemicals and other unnatural additives to make their products look "sexy" and taste "glamorous" so that consumers get hooked on to them without realizing the terrible consequences of eating them regularly! Probably government of India could set up a dedicated organic foods certification and monitoring agency with adequate powers to enforce the national standards for organic foods, in stead of the present ad hoc arrangement involving APEDA.

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

The diabetic dilemma - A complex disorder with diverse dimensions

Is it not shocking when we are told that in this planet one human being dies every 6 seconds because of diabetes and complications arising from this scourge? The staggering figure of 384 million people being affected in his world by diabetes is indeed disturbing and look at the death rate-1.5 million (mn) dying because of this disease every year. How come this so called metabolic syndrome was allowed to creep in slowly without being taken seriously a few years ago? Probably adequate knowledge might not have been available then to understand unambiguously the basic reasons for human beings to develop diabetes. Progress in medical science and human physiology has created a fund of knowledge regarding various causes that can be responsible for spreading of metabolic syndrome in practically every country in this globe.

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar are prominent countries where those affected by diabetes is as high as 20-24% of their population. That means 1 in 5 citizens suffers from this disease. According to the WHO the diabetic is expected to be prevalent among 600 million people by the year 2035. What about India? While as a percentage of the population it is small, about 5%, in absolute numbers, this country can be called the diabetic capital of the world. From 31.7 mn in the year 2000, the number of diabetics has jumped to 62 mn in 2014 which is predicted to reach almost 80 mn by 2030. India, China and the US have most diabetics compared to other countries though in terms of percentage figures, these countries have relatively less affected by diabetes measured per thousand population. Though statistics can be quite revealing, what is not understood is why some are more vulnerable while others are immune to this disorder, considered a life style disease caused by sedentary living conditions giving no scope for the body to expend the calories consumed through physical activities. 

If one asks the crucial question as to what is really responsible for this surge in diabetic population, the most common answer would be "obesity". According to present understanding about diabetes, over weight and obesity contribute to insulin insensitivity leading to a condition when body finds it difficult to push glucose into the cells where it is supposed to be converted to energy. However a closer look at the situation will reveal that obesity cannot be the sole factor causing diabetes. In the US there are almost 100 million obese people while the diabetic population is only 23 mn and it will reach a figure of 30 mn only by 2030. Similarly China the second largest obesity prone country has 46 mn cases of obesity whereas its diabetic population is only 30 mn. The third ranked India on obesity scale with 30 mn people suffering from obesity, has a whopping number of diabetics, viz 62 million. Thus it is difficult to establish a direct linkage between obesity and diabetes. There must be other reasons for developing diabetes which need to be looked into.

Three new studies carried out fairly recently have brought to surface the role of genetic make up, disturbed Amylin hormone cycle and disturbances in the body's natural circadian clock  Qualitatively some conclusions can be drawn regarding the role of genes and mutations undergone by them. The fact that certain ethnic groups are more prone to diabetes than others has been pointed out in support of genetic factors influencing the onset of diabetes. The inherent contradiction, that some lean people get diabetes while many over weight people are protected from diabetes, cannot be explained easily unless we fall back on genetic factors. A probable interpretation could be that the diabetes can occur with a 50:50 chance determined by family history and life styles followed by different people.

Those who contend that gene factor is important cite the 9 variations possible in the gene PPARG which has some influence on obesity development and which is not strictly related to BMI. Building up of fat around abdomen in some people who do not appear to be "fat" to look at, can be explained only though the above basis. Decreased function of PPARG can simulate such a condition. According to this school of thought diabetes that is seen in India and Pakistan is of this type. This is reflected by the fact that in India obesity is much less as a proportion to diabetic population than that found in the US and China. Diabetics to obese population in the US, China and India are 23:100:,30:40 and 62: 30 respectively reflecting the difference found in the above countries. 

The Amylin hormone produced by pancreas works in conjunction with insulin and plays a role in preventing over production or under utilization of insulin affecting glucose levels in the blood plasma. According to those who support the theory of Amylin hormone's role in developing diabetes, too much production of this hormone can get deposited around pancreas as toxic clumps causing death of insulin producing cells. This theory lacks precise scientific evidence regarding the cause of Amylin over production though it is thought to be related to inactivation of concerned enzymes involved in the metabolism of Amylin. But the qualitative finding as reported recently cannot be brushed away easily. Further studies can only throw more light on this aspect related to development of diabetes, at least among some people, not vulnerable to obesity.

The Circadian clock theory also appears rational though the evidence generated so far is with mice as subjects. The finding that during the night when mice are active, they showed high insulin efficiency to burn the foods they consumed into energy while in the same mice during day time when they sleep, their insulin resistance increases leading to accumulation of fat and weight gain. Insulin after all is  the driving tool for pushing glucose in the blood into liver, muscle and other cells. Mice population in which the gene responsible for circadian rhythm is knocked out were found to develop insulin resistance and consequently gained weight abnormally. Same thing was found when they were exposed to uninterrupted light for 24 hours upsetting their circadian rhythm. If such a phenomenon is confirmed by clinical trials with humans, it provides logical explanation for the vulnerability people working in night shifts and others ignoring the normal sleep cycle to diabetes more often. 

The above three findings throw lot of insight into diabetes epidemic the world is facing and must serve as a guide to future development for appropriate therapy to deal with this disease in the coming years. While diabetes related to genetic factors will have to be dealt with at the genetic level involving gene manipulating intervention drugs,  Amylin therapy to reduce insulin resistance will have to work at the enzyme level and circadian clock disruption will need to be avoided to pre empt this causing diabetes. The world is headed for an exciting era ahead when more precise and reliable drug therapy may emerge based on the latest findings. 

Beware, a person looking lean need not be free from diabetes while another person looking obese may be really non-diabetic!  

V.H.POTTY

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

Life is precious-Why do people give it up?

Life is considered a precious gift from God by most people in the world though there are a few atheists who think there is nothing like a God. However as long as man is not able to revive a completely dead person back to normal life or create artificial life one has to admit the existence of an omnipotent force with powers beyond what human beings, in spite of vast scientific and technological prowess at their disposal, possess. There are occasional reports that some scientists are on the threshold of creating artificial life though it cannot be still considered satisfactory to sideline God yet. Probably in years to come man may succeed but one has to wait for that day before casting serious doubt about the existence of God. This is a controversial issue and people on both sides of the divide will have to respect each others' feelings.

If life is a precious thing why do people commit suicide so often knowing pretty well that they can never return back to life? One of the most accepted views is that suicide happens when the extreme mental condition of the person does not allow him to think seriously the mind boggling consequences of committing such an act and in many cases those who fail in their effort to take their life in the first attempt invariably give up unless there is serious mental derangement. According to WHO experts on a global basis, one suicide takes place every 40 seconds working out to an annual suicide rate of 8 lakh per year. It is interesting to see that suicide rate varies from country to country though low income and middle income countries report higher suicide rates. Thus no one country is immune to suicidal tendency whether rich or poor, whether in Asia, America, Africa or Europe. Another notable phenomenon is that those who choose death voluntarily are mostly illiterates! 

India is a country where suicide rates are considered high though there are others with almost double the rate in other continents. If one believes in the babu version of government of India there were only 134, 600 deaths due to suicide in India in the year 2012 but WHO where such deaths are systematically documented the real figure was 258, 075 out of which 99, 977 were women and 158, 098 men. Obviously there must be some suppression of data in India or the documentation system is faulty. Overall there is 21.1 suicides for every 1 lakh population. It is not a consolation that a poor country like Guyana has a suicide rate as high as 44.2 per one lakh population or for that matter Sri Lanka recorded 28.8 deaths or Nepal had a figure of 24.9 suicides per one lakh. What is appalling is that in Indian suicide rate is high when it comes to the age group of 15-29 years aggregating to 35.5 per lakh while among 30 to 49 years group the rate falls to 28 per lakh. 

Suicide by farmers is always sensational and the media loves to report them promptly accusing the governments for such happenings in the country. However farmer suicides are less than 10% of the national figure though self inflicted deaths in rural belt is mostly due to serious financial indebtedness and insurmountable difficulties to meet both the ends meet on account of drought and crop failure. Pesticide poisoning, hanging and self immolation account for most deaths in countries like India while firearms are extensively used in countries like the US where they are easily available in the market. Interestingly in most wealthy countries poverty or hunger is not the primary reason for self-inflicted death but it is the acute mental disorders that drive them to this extreme step. Koreans are an interesting case where suicide rates are as high as 28.9 to 38.5 per lakh. Though on the development scale South Koreans are far ahead with high per capita income, the suicide figure tells a different story. There the figure is almost 29 per lakh while in North Korea it is 38.5 per lakh. 

What about our neighbor China? It is a confusing picture there as there are no independent reports that can substantiate the official claims by the government, The claim that it has dramatically reduced suicide rate from 22.3 per lakh a decade ago to 9.8 per lakh, a reduction of about 58% cannot be verified but even if if it is partially true the achievement is really noteworthy. One of the reasons attributed to this phenomenon is the rapid, conscious and massive urbanization programs initiated by the communist government and many social welfare supports available to the citizens. This is understandable because suicides take place mostly in rural and semi-urban areas for which no credible explanation is still available.    

In absolute numbers maximum suicides take place in India, about 2.6 lakh out of a global figure of 8 lakh (almost 33%) though country's population is less than 18% of world population. This may prompt critics to call India the suicide capital of the world. It is a poor reflection on the metal strength of the nation which boasts of 5000 years of glorious history, an ancient civilization and the epicenter of epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana,  In a land where Buddha and Mahavir Jain were born, peace within and around should have been a strong trait among their descendants. Also this is the land where Mahatma Gandhi, the Universal Apostle of nonviolence was born and attained martyrdom. If so why this depredation, deprivation, desperation and predisposition that drive people to destroy their own lives? Where has this country gone wrong in evolving such a destructive environment when people think of taking their own lives? Is there a spiritual bankruptcy or lack of self confidence or a sense of helplessness which is responsible for this situation? There is an urgent need for introspection among Indians vis-a-vis the factors that drive some of their fellow citizens towards self destruction so as to bring about radical self corrective measures.

   

V.H.POTTY

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

THE "CALORIE-BODY WEIGHT" EQUATION-NEW APPROACH TO UNDERSTAND OBESITY

When the subject of obesity is talked about, there is always this tendency to advice the victims of such physiological disorders to cut down drastically on food intake, least realizing that there is no quick fix solution to overcome the epidemic. It is true that balancing the calories consumed with that expended is a key to "prevent" development of obesity but cutting down on calories by people already obese has minimal effect forcing the unfortunate victims to seek medical intervention. Many slimming diets propounded by commercial special food industry also do not help in controlling weight in all people, their impact being not uniform among the patients trying to bring down body weight through this route. It is for nothing that obesity "industry" is growing fast attracting victims who do not get solace through conventional diet therapy.  

Mathematics is a precise science and it is the basis of all designs man comes up with during the last few decades. There are many mathematical models evolved by scientists to test hypotheses and concepts and with the computing power of to day's man becoming mind boggling, there is nothing which cannot be predicted based on mathematics. Practically the whole space program was developed on computer calculations and modeling studies. It is against this background attempts are being made to use mathematical modeling studies to understand and predict obesity trends among human beings based on food intake and other data available already in the literature. Probably better and more intensive use of mathematics may reduce drastically the time needed to understand and project future possibilities.

A standard answer to any question related to calorie intake and weight reduction will always be that it takes about 3500 kC calorie reduction to lose. But it appears this is no longer the holy grail if some mathematicians have their say. They aver that the behavior of the human body is not the same under over caloric and under caloric conditions. Proof of this contention is that a person already overweight puts on more weight for every 10 calories additional intake compared to a normal healthy person consuming the same number of calories. In other words the effect of calorie intake is not manifested immediately and there is a certain time factor to see its weight gaining effect. If these findings are true the dietary science may have to be revised to keep in tune with the new predictions by the mathematics experts.

One of the surprising findings is that weight gain and reduction cannot be achieved in short time and it may take 1-3 years to reach equilibrium by the human body. In other words there is no quick fix for weight reduction as is being propagated by the merchants and peddlers of weight reduction diets world over. How difficult it is to lose weight can be gauged by the fact, as brought out recently, that it takes about three years for a dieter under any dietary regime to reach a steady state and there should not be any disappointment if results take longer to arrive than expected! The mathematical model arrived at by the new studies predicts that if one wants to reduce 10 pounds, it is necessary to cut down 100 kC a day for 3 years. Most welcome finding that will give solace to many weight watchers is that huge variations in daily intake of foods will not be a problem as long as the average intake is maintained to achieve the desired goal of reduced weight. 

One of the reasons as to why in the US one out of every three persons is obese can be seen against the above background. Since 1970s the food cost in that country has been coming down significantly while the per capita income has been increasing, putting more money in the hands of people. American food industry started its "seduction" program to tap the increased money in the hands of the population by creating foods that stimulate the palate rather than improving their well being! If the obesity in the US has assumed alarming proportion during the last one decade, it has to be understood in the context of the growth of the food industry there churning out foods with empty nutrition and abundance of calories. If the mathematical modeling is taken into consideration once the equilibrium level of the body is reached in 3 years resulting in increase of 10 pounds in the body weight, every additional calorie is bound to escalate the weight accrual relentlessly resulting in obesity in no time. As against 2000-2500 kC intake by healthy persons in developing countries, the corresponding figure is in the vicinity of 3500 kc! Under such a condition one cannot help saying "Obesity, thy name is America"!

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