NO STAINS, NO STICKINESS- AT WHAT PRICE?

A citizen to day may be happy from the materialistic point of view getting all the comforts money can buy from thousands of innovative products churned out by technology intensive manufacturing industry. But the dangers lurking behind such a transformation during the last 5-6 decades are manifold and man's understanding of these life-threatening risks are minimal posing an uncertain future. Newer industrial chemicals developed at a frenetic pace all over the world with potential application in every day life are known to be safe to some extent though no one will guarantee100% safety. Risk benefit ratio of each new chemical ultimately decides their entry into the human chain. Continuous risk analysis has enabled the world to eliminate many of these chemicals from active use. Banning of use of halogenated hydrocarbons based on their ozone destroying property causing global warming is an example of global cooperation in such endeavors.

Food industry has its own Achilles heel in the form of chemical additives, thousands in number which are used as process aids and in packaging materials. While some of them have been cleared based on some scientific data, many are still being used under the GRAS protocol. Many of them have not been clinically tested, their safety having been assessed by only animal studies. Existence of Codex Alimentarius Commission under FAO-WHO banner provides some solace to consumers as most countries more or less follow its guidelines in the use of chemical additives. Newer analytical tools capable of detecting nanogram levels of chemicals in food and water are providing better insight into the presence of contaminants which hitherto were not considered as possible pollutants. Advent of newer and faster biological assay techniques is helping toxicologists to understand the impact of chemical substances at cellular levels. In spite of all these positive developments consumer still remains exposed to many hazards from many directions every day.

Polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs) were welcomed at one time when they were developed in 1950s, with open arms for their extraordinary ability to reduce surface tension in detergents and impart non-sticking, non-staining properties on many products. Chemicals coming under this category include Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) etc and find extensive applications in many materials with which humans have contact every day. The revolutionary non-sticky cookwares, found practically in every kitchen, are made using Teflon which contains PFCs while non staining food wrappers like the ones used for take out foods and pizza delivery also have coatings based on PFCs. Most of the surfactants in use to day, lubricants,paper,textiles coatings, polishes, fire -retardant foams, carpets and many industrial products owe their special properties to the use of PFCs

during their manufacturing process. It turns out that the common house dust kicked up during cleaning the house has significant levels of PFCs which get into the blood stream through inhalation. PFCs have been detected in many water bodies and even in breast milk fed to the infants. As against 0.4 ppb of PFCs in water considered safe, there are reports indicating their presence several times this safe limit.

As PFCs can bioaccumulate and biomagnify in marine and fresh water ecosystems, the aquatic creatures are most affected causing immeasurable damage in the long run. In some countries where PFC levels are monitored periodically their concentration in blood goes up to 15 ppb but absence of more exhaustive data is worrisome because of the serious repercussions of unknown dangers that may confront the mankind in future. Some of the PFCs have a serum elimination half life of more than 8 years and they can cause lower birth weight in children, affect immune system, lead to liver damage, infertility and cancer depending on the extent of exposure. Most recently presence of PFCs has been linked to elevation of serum cholesterol, especially LDL component, in healthy individuals, though the precise mechanism is yet to be unraveled. Considering the serious health risks inherent in wide spread use of PFCs, a time has come to ban its manufacture and use through a global agreement.

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

"NEW" DIETARY GUIDELINES FOR INDIANS-WHAT IS NEW?

When new knowledge is emerging in the crucial areas of nutrition and health having vital bearing on the well being of humans, there does not appear to be a realization still that all humans are not same and their needs can vary significantly depending on the environment, physical activity and many other factors. Only recently British authorities announced a revised guideline for their population based on the specific needs in that country and surprisingly a recommendation has been made to consume up to 16% more calories for male adults based on their daily physical activity. This is totally against the current trend universally to reduce calorie consumption to combat obesity related disorders. It is not clear as to the basis of new guidelines for Indians, published in some media recently, as no reliable data still exists regarding the nutrient requirement of a "typical" Indian. This country has been faithfully following the parameters that prevail in countries like USA and the nutrition labeling required to be followed by the industry is also based on foreign nutritional parameters.

So called new guidelines look like a tinkered version of a similar one brought out in 1998. A cursory look at the 'new' guidelines does not reveal any major deviation as if nothing much has changed in this country in spite of the explosive growth of GDP and ever increasing purchasing power of the citizens. Suggesting a cut down in the intake of carbohydrate marginally may not be significant because that is the only bulk energy supplier in the diet where as fat is not an accepted choice for making up the calorie need. The increase in protein intake, just marginally, does not make any sense at all. If total calorie need is still maintained at 2000 kC and if carbohydrates are to be reduced how can one derive the required energy? The crucial factor missing is the type of carbohydrate to be consumed and the guideline regarding sugar consumption may not be sound since, from 20-25 gm a day in the earlier version, it has been increased to about 10% of total energy, which amounts to 50 gm a day!. Sugar is increasingly being shunned universally for its adverse effect on health.

It is amusing to read about a recommendation calling for use of a combination of mustard oil and soybean oil which the pundits consider as the best. One cannot help feeling sad because all native oils available and popular in India have been sidelined. That the two oils named, Canola and Soybean are in the forefront in the GM food development platform, may not a coincidence and if GOI takes this line seriously, flood gate is going to be opened for increased imports of these two oils from the US and Canada in the name of good health! Guideline for salt intake, less than 5 gm a day, is very sound but how to go about to achieve this is a million dollar question. Present consumption level is estimated to be around 10-12gm per capita per day, though no one is sure about the real situation. Probably food industry must make an earnest effort to cut down on use of salt in packed foods voluntarily and catering establishment could take a conscious and collective decision to make their preparations with low salt. leaving the choice of adding it by the consumer, if necessary, on the serving table.

Why should a national diet guideline set a limit for alcohol consumption is baffling. Only recently some disturbing reports have come out regarding the harmful effects of alcoholic beverages like wine on women and it is a controversial area best to have been avoided leaving the decision to the individuals and the medical fraternity. In stead of coming out with a report which is neither scientific nor precise, it would have been more appropriate to compile ideal diets for different regions in the country based on the local food habits and availability of food materials in respective areas.

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

WORLD 'DIABETES' CAPITAL-THE UNSOLICITED "HONOR"

Indians feel proud by the achievements in many spheres during the last six decades of independence. The farmers of this country have brought laurels for this country, even if the agriculture is a losing proposition for most of them. The impoverished farming population which constitutes more than 90% of the agriculturists in India catapulted the country into top position with respect to production of many crops on the global scale and if India is a major producer of milk, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables, cereals, cotton, tea etc the credit goes to the subsistence farmers of this country. Of course, the nuclear bombs, rocketry and IT industry have made India a world force to reckon with though their percolation effect is far and few..

Against such a background, Indian record in many other areas is dismal. It is supposed to be one of the most corrupt countries in the world, has highest number of poor, hungry and malnourished population, has very poor record in the sphere of sports and athletics and is considered to have a soft belly when it comes to aggressive diplomacy. On a day when the whole world is observing the ritual of "Diabetes Day", India has been declared the "Diabetes Capital of the World", probably because it boasts of the highest population afflicted with this metabolic disease. The current estimate is that there are 50 million plus diabetic persons in the country which is projected to reach a staggering figure of 75 million. It is scary to note that seven out of 100 Indian adults suffer from diabetes disorder. 

Earlier perception that diabetes is a rich man's disease has taken a knock on on its head because compared to the per capita income in First World countries, corresponding figure in India is a pittance. Still diabetes seems to have developed an affinity for Indians, though their food consumption pattern is no where near that in most of the developed countries. One of the parents being diabetic poses a 20% risk for the children to inherit it, while a diabetic couple can increase the risk to 50%. With each passing generation the age at which diabetes develops gets lowered by 5-10 years. The relation between diabetes and obesity is well established and uncontrolled BMI can be a sure sign of potential development of diabetes. Here lies the paradox! Obesity is not known to be prevalent in India but diabetes is still a predominant disease. It is a complex question to which ready answers may not be forth coming.

There is a misconception that as India is a land of "mithais" (sweetmeats) with hundreds of variations, popular amongst all people across the country, there could be a connection between consumption of sweets and development of diabetes. Possibly such a connection may be through excess calorie consumption and higher BMI but cannot be through any effect on pancreas or insulin production. A recent report from the US blames sugar for reducing the life span based on studies on some worms which have similarities with humans in the insulin signaling pathways. A lot more needs to be done to unravel the real reason as to why Indians are more prone to diabetes without being unduly overweight.

If adequate insight on the above phenomenon is not gained quickly, diabetes may spread in geometrical progression with each passing generation becoming more vulnerable to it because of their diabetic parents. While diet modification can help to arrest the progress of diabetes in those already affected, lacking the wherewithal to reverse the disease, based on current knowledge, will hamper global efforts to checkmate it effectively. Diet and exercise seem to be the only tools available to fight diabetes to day and more people realize this truth better will be the future of this planet. 

 

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

GROCERY BAGS-IMPACT OF PLASTICS

There was a time during good old days when shoppers use to carry cloth or jute bags to bring groceries from stores and these shopping bags are permanent part of a house hold, washed frequently. It is common sight to see such bags with many people coming to the market for purchasing different items from various shops. Advent of plastics has changed this scenario for good and plastic bag industry has been able to manufacture very thin, single use carry bags at low cost enabling the sellers to offer their products in such bags free of cost. Bags with less than 20 microns thickness but with unparalleled strength are to day available and their cost is just a fraction of the cost of the materials that it can carry. According some estimates every minute about 10 million bags are produced, most of which are of single use type ending up in the garbage and annual production can be as high as 5 trillion bags. The world per capita consumption works out to 1000 bags per year. If plastic bags have attained such a preeminent position in human lives, there must be strong reasons and if they are to be eliminated, as is being contemplated in many countries, then also there must be strong reasons to justify such a strategy.

Most of the plastic bags that is seen to day are based on polyethylene (PE) polymer derived from natural gas and therefore one may have strong reservation regarding dependence on an exhaustible fossil fuel source. Long time, about 700-1000 years, required for degradation of PE in nature and environmental contamination potential naturally make PE an undesirable material for use in manufacture of carry bags. Indiscriminate littering with PE bags create serious environmental problems for the infrastructure as well as other forms of life. The frequent urban flooding episodes have been attributed to discarded plastic bags choking drains and water ways, preventing free flow of water from flooded areas. Though PE bags can be recycled with ease, currently less than 1% is actually recycled in practice. Use of PE bags, made from non-food grade resins, for food contact application, can cause serious health hazards. If plastic bags are to be avoided there must be a decent alternative with much better credentials.

Paper, jute, cotton fabrics etc have been suggested as alternate options. Paper can never be a suitable substitute because of its links to deforestation and more than double the energy required for its production. Same is true with jute and cotton fabrics but they can still be acceptable as long they are reused several times. Reuse can still save plastics from oblivion and the problem of its biodegradability can be addressed in a different way. The ability of plastics to be compacted into small sized bundles offers the possibility of their use in land fills, construction industry and for road building for which low biodegradability is a plus factor. Also under development are new plastics with biodegradable characteristics. Polylactic acid is an example though it is also being criticized for the uncertainty regarding its recyclability. Incorporation of additives in PE to provide a UV and/or biological mechanism to degrade in 6 months to 2 years is also under development.

If recycling can be a viable option for PE bags to continue to serve humanity, what can be done to prevent people from throwing them away after single use? Banning their use, as being done in some states in India, may not be a practical solution since enforcement of such ban is neither practical nor cost manageable. Latest suggestion to come from some NGOs is to financially reward the shoppers for returning plastic bags whenever they make future purchases but who will bear the economic burden is not clear. Why should the retailer pay it from his pocket, unless he is a socially responsible person caring for the planet? Probably government may intervene by rewarding the grocer when used plastic bags are redeemed by designated agencies at a rate adequate to reimburse the amount paid to the consumers. The prevalent low price commanded by used plastic bags does not motivate many consumers to take the trouble of returning the used bags. Rewarding the consumer at @25-50 paise per used bag may be more appropriate for which governments in the state and the center must make budgetary provision. It looks like there is no realistic alternative to plastics and one has to learn to live with them, making best use of technological innovations to alleviate some of the perceived problems.       

 

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

FRUIT JUICES-THE NEW VILLAIN!

It is the conventional wisdom that consumption of fruits regularly is good for health. There are many processed products from fruits like juice, beverage, preserves, dried pieces, fresh cut pieces, fruit bar etc out of which most commonly sought after and promoted is the juice, singly or in combination. A break fast for a western consumer is incomplete unless a juice is served. Most important reason for the juice to become popular is its presumed health conferring values due to presence of many phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals. But a juice can never be a satisfactory substitute for the whole fruit and its high sugar content is increasingly attracting the attention of the health critics who advocate restricted consumption of sugar and sugar based products to prevent development of many of the modern day diseases.

Fruit juice is now being compared to man made sugary beverages with different flavors turned out by the soft drink industry because of the concentration of fructose present in both. Soft drink consumption is now being frowned upon because these products are supposed to cause obesity if consumed regularly in large quantities and there are even proposals to impose punitive taxes on them to discourage production and consumption. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a processed sugar concentrate derived from corn starch through hydrolysis and isomerization, is the sweetening base used in the recipes of most of the soft drinks and obesity pundits blame this particular ingredient responsible for fat build up in the body. Fructose is reported to be more readily converted to fat in the liver than glucose and this poses greater risk for development of CVD and Type 2 diabetes.

According to some scientists fruit juice contains more sugar than that present in soft drinks and other sweetened beverages. Levels of sugar in juices can be 10-50% more depending on the source of the juice. Grape juice can have sugar as high as 152 kC equivalent per cup while Coke or Pepsi contains only 97-100 kC, mostly derived from the sugar component in the product. Apple, cherries, grapes, banana, mango, pineapple all can have high sugar content and the fructose levels can be 1 to 2.5 times more than glucose. Natural juice generally contain 95-100% fruit solids with very little added water. Presence of suspended solids in some juice products is another variable when fruit juice nutrition is considered and such juices are always more preferred compared to clarified juices. A natural question that arises is whether consumption of fresh fruit also can be risky in the long run. Will this new findings rewrite present day's nutrition concepts?

The fact, that some scientific studies, critically peer reviewed, have raised the question of fruit juice nutrition, especially in kids, calls for further detailed investigation internationally with more objectivity. It should not appear that these studies are intended to buttress the case of soft drink manufacturers who do not subscribe to the view that fructose is an undesirable sweetener causing obesity in people as being claimed in the Western world.

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

THE IRONY OF SWINE FLU-CAN THERE BE A FOOD CONNECTION?

For the last few months the term swine flu is on the lips of every one including children because of proclamation by the WHO that it is pandemic. During the initial stages when swine flu was first encountered in Mexico and subsequently spread to other countries, it was dreaded as a lethal infection with no immunity enjoyed by the population. Development of vaccine to preempt the spread of this infection taken up on a war footing has given hope that the H1N1 virus, the culprit responsible for the disease may not become a massive killer in the coming months.

It is interesting to look at the statistics regarding the extent of incidence of swine flu amongst various countries as it may give a clue regarding the reasons why only in certain countries the virus has taken its toll sparing many others with less virulence. If swine flu is as dangerous as being made out, countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and most of the African countries should have borne the brunt of its onslaught because of the prevalence of poverty, malnutrition and low living standards. In stead it assumed epidemic proportion mostly in countries in the Western Hemisphere. USA claimed to be the most powerful nation on earth when it comes to economic and muscle strength could do very little to stop H1N1 virus onslaught on its track and paradoxically maximum fatality was recorded in that country. According to WHO more than 5000 deaths have been attributed to swine flu out of which USA alone accounted for about 1000. In India fatality reported on this count is just 316 till last week.

One of the reasons could be the high degree of immunization conferred on Indians by the environment where they live and exposure to hundreds of varieties of bacteria, virus and other vectors could have helped them to develop immunity to a wide spectrum of such organisms. Who knows H1N1 virus might already be present in the country and this could have probably created the necessary defense against this vector when it started spreading through persons coming from western hemisphere. Another possible factor is the type of foods consumed in the country and it is known that some of the foods do have virucidal properties. Diets containing thiosulfinate rich foods like garlic and many spices do exercise virucidal properties while tea, coffee and lauric oils also have inhibitory effect on many virus species. The role of diet in protecting humans from some types of microbiological infection needs to be explored further based on the diseases status of populations consuming different foods.

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

"MAGIC FOODS"-BIGGER BRAINS, BIGGER BODIES AND STRONGER MUSCLES!

If one goes by the commercials which bombard the viewers almost every minute from hundreds of television channels, India is indeed a 'blessed' country and its citizens are the most fortunate ones in this planet having a food industry which 'lovingly' give them products that can do miracles! There is a product from a major player which claims that its newly developed product contains 33% more of the nutrient that nurtures brain cells, the natural inference being that parents must give this product to their children to make then more 'brainy'. It is another matter that the manufacturer was served a notice by the GOI Health Ministry asking them to provide scientific data to support such a ludicrous claim. If one goes by past experience nothing much is going to happen by this 'notice' and every body is happy that 'some thing' has been done, irrespective of the outcome!

There is another product blaring day in and day out about its product containing double the protein compared to milk and goes on to say that protein is necessary for fast growth. The indirect message is that since the protein content is double, the growth rate that can be expected is also double. The "23 essential nutrients" advertisement has lost much of its sheen since experts started to believe added vitamins and minerals consumed do not improve the health of the buyer and on the contrary they make the the economic health of the manufacturer "robust". Another food product tries to hammer the point that children consuming its product will be sharper, smarter and taller! The most unfortunate aspect of such rabid posturing is that even those who cannot afford even the bare daily necessities start buying them while those who are rich, any how do not need them because the milk they consume in large quantities is a much better wholesome food than any processed product in the market.

The devious way by which some of these players try to influence the minds of the consumers is not through their legitimate product labels but by sponsoring high decibel commercial claims in the electronic media. In the absence of a credible mechanism to vet the contents of such promotional programs, usually any one can get away committing serious misdemeanors. The Food Standards and Safety Authority (FSSAI) seems to be without power to do a darn thing about these offenses committed in front of millions of viewers, young and old. Probably FSSAI should assume power to bring such wayward members of the industry to books and provide deterrent punishment that will be a lesson for others.

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