A MASTER FOOD FOR ALL-CAN FOOD TECHNOLOGISTS DESIGN ONE?

Food consumption habits differ from people to people depending on many variable factors and these have been evolved over centuries of traditions, societal interactions and the environment where people have been living. Stresses and strains in the modern society have compelled many people to modify their consumption behavior and adopt foods which are more convenient to make or factory processed foods to save time and focus on their professional career. The busy city lives, opportunities to eat out side home, exciting new products coming to the market and mega promotions by the food industry have all contributed to a slow shift in the emphasis on food from healthines to convenience and this seems to have made a heavy adverse impact on the health status of the people all over the world.  

Advent of diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disorder, high blood pressure, kidney problems, constipation, GI tract ailments all are caused by continued consumption of nutritionally imbalanced foods turned out by the processing industry. Repeated attempts by governments every where, impleading the citizens to consume more fruits and vegetables, high fiber foods, low salt products, low sugar foods, low fat items, coarse cereal based products, less consumption of meat etc are falling on deaf years with practically no impact on the deteriorating health status of the population in general. It is sad that such a helpless condition of the society is being exploited by a section of the industry by touting special foods and functional foods with claims, not substantiated by scientific proof leading to all pervasive criticism about the real intention of the main stream industry.

Imagine the situation in which a consumer finds himself, saddled with any of the diseases cited above with no practical way to get solace and comfort from market products of doubtful benefits. These foods are invariably loaded with too much energy, fat, salt, sugar, refined carbohydrates of high GI values, undesirable and unsafe chemicals etc but with practically no fiber, natural micronutrients and unsaturated fats. It is true that consumer gets lot of useful information from the nutrient labels supposed to be truthful but he is lost completely regarding the importance or irrelevance of such information in taking a decision in the market aisles. The MyPlate icon now being popularized advocates that the fruit and vegetable content in a diet must be almost 50% of the volume of food consumed and how is it possible that a consumer can stick to this advice without spending substantial time in the kitchen? Here is where enlightened industry must come to the aid of consumers who cannot eat most of the commercial food products because one or the other dietary restrictions. 

Those requiring specially designed foods cannot take too much sugar, too much salt, too much saturated fats, too much carbohydrates whereas they need adequate dietary fiber, proteins, natural micronutrients, mono and poly unsaturated fats, low GI food materials besides yearning for high palatability and diversity. Can these requirements be factored into the design of a food product which can be a foundation recipe to build variety into it?  It is time such an attempt is made and the product should have the following characteristics:adaptability to use in the preparation of different types of products and beverages from a single formulation, diverse flavors and tastes to avoid monotony, portioning flexibility, good shelf life, optimum nutrition, depression avoiding, sleep inducing, obesity avoiding etc. 

The ingredients that can go into such a product include coarse grains, pulses, quinoa, oats, barley, low sodium salt, non-metabolized sweeteners, bran fractions, stabilized mono and poly unsaturated fat sources, dehydrated vegetables and fruits, spices and herbs, nuts etc all of which can support life when used in various proportions. Such a master food mix can be converted into various shapes and textures for ready to eat or can be converted into various products similar to mainstream items prepared by cooking, steaming, roasting, baking, frying and other means at the kitchen. There are products in the market that contain multiple grains both as grain blends or in powder form for the consumers to use in their day to day preparations but such product formulations need to be refined further in the light of to day's technological prowess.

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

HYPERTENSION AND WATER MELON-A REALITY CHECK

Some recent reports in the media claimed that consuming Watermelon regularly can be the answer to controlling one's blood pressure and probably this may give an impression to those suffering some form of hypertension that by eating this fruit all dietary precautions can be thrown to winds. There are thousands of such reports flashed across popular media for "creating" some sort of sensation to increase their viewership. The general tendency amongst some scientists to approach popular media with such sensational news can cause considerable harm to the cause of science as well as to consumers many of whom believe them blindly. Frequently results of ill-designed animal studies are extrapolated to human system and without peer review, same is passed on to journalist eagerly looking forward for such "explosive" news items. The need for restraint is all the more important when one realizes that most consumers are ignorant about many aspects of food, nutrition and health and unnecessary hope is raised amongst desperate consumers looking for solace to their health related problems.

Taking the case of Watermelon, the claim of controlling blood pressure (BP) is based on the fact that it contains L-Citrulline and in limited trials an extract of this chemical obtained from the fruit was able to reduce BP after 6 weeks, though to what extent, is not clear. The authors qualified their claim by indicating that the results were obtained with just 9 subjects suffering from "border line" BP, with a systolic pressure of 120-139 and a diastolic pressure of 80-89. The quantity administered was 6 gm of L-Citrulline/Arginine extracted from watermelon juice. Imagine the quantity of fruit required to get 6 gm of the amino acid considering that maximum content reported was 28.5 mg per gm dry weight! Similarly in another study some scientists administered Watermelon juice to the extent of almost two liters to their volunteers for eliciting its effect on Arginine levels in the blood.

It is true that Citrulline, an alpha amino acid, considered non-essential because human body can make it given the precursors, is a key intermediate in Urea cycle by which humans excrete Ammonia from the body. Citrulline was also found to relax blood vessels and its malate derivative is sold as a performance enhancing athletic dietary supplement. There is an association between Watermelon and Citrulline as the very name is derived from the Latin name for the fruit, Citrullus. It was isolated in pure form in 1930 and several scientific studies have implicated its role in optimizing blood flow through conversion to L-Arginine and then Nitric Oxide which is involved in Vasodilation. Low levels in the body are manifested in mental and physical fatigue and other problems well documented. On positive side Citrulline is reported to increase energy mobilization and stimulation of immune system.

Of course no one should have any quarrel with consuming Watermelon regularly every day as a part of the diet but claiming that a slice of this fruit can bring down BP is some what far-fetched. Water melon contains mainly water, to the extent of 92% besides nutrients like proteins, Vitamins A, B6 and C, fiber, Potassium and Carotenoids like Lycopene, Phytofluene, Phytoene, beta-Carotene, Lutein and Neurosporene. Though presence of Citrulline has attracted much attention, its concentration varies over a wide range of 3.9 mg to 28.5 mg per gm of dry weight of the pulp and possibly this poses a challenge regarding selection of varieties with high Citrulline content, if BP lowering benefits are to be derived, as claimed. Incidentally the rind of the fruit which is not normally consumed contains more Citrulline than the juice!

As many eminent doctors have said consuming Watermelon can be good for health as it contains many desirable nutrients but expecting marvels to happen through this fruit while leading an undisciplined and careless life style is foolhardy. Watermelon or for that matter any single food cannot be a silver bullet for shooting down inconvenient health disorders like BP, CVD, diabetes etc which are widely prevalent to day. Reasonable dietary control, avoiding over weight, consumption of diverse foods with more stress on whole grains, fruits and vegetables of different types, control of intake of fat, refined sugar and sodium combined with an active physical activity regime only can confer the benefits of good health.

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