Fat is no more a dirty word for health conscious consumers? Another twist to "fat saga"!

Every American child from its early development stage has been fed on a food myth that butter and cheese are not good for their health and the food industry in western countries found an opportunity to cash on this understanding of the consumers, churning out thousands of food products with no fat or low fat. Saturated fat was a still dirtier word because of the repeated claims by many studies that they contribute to heart disease by raising bad cholesterol level in the blood. Healthy plant oils like Palmolein and Coconut oil became a permanent item in the"no buy" list of most families since they are rich in saturated fats! What a paradox? To day both these oils are becoming popular for the very opposite reason that they are healthy! It is true that all animal fats do contain cholesterol but that is no reason to shun them indiscriminately without realizing their good qualities. It is a good development that at least some scientists of modern generation are asking hard questions as to whether dietary guidelines formulated a generation ago were authenticated by exacting scientific studies that to day are mandatory before arriving at such far reaching conclusions. 

Imagine the population of the US at 220 million in 1983 when the above dietary guidelines were imposed and that in the UK at 56 million, started the shift from normal diet to low fat diet believing the norms as absolute truth. These guidelines restricted consumption of fat to 30% of the total dietary calories and that from saturated fat to 10% of daily calorie intake. Unfortunately there was no improvement in the general health status of the people consequent to the new paradigm introduced in these countries. On the contrary there was dramatic decline of health when measured in terms of CVD, obesity, diabetes and other diseases! This is not to argue that new dietary guidelines caused this slump but it has something to do with the changes in the diet of consumers, who replaced the fat with carbohydrates from refined grain flours and sugar-rich products to meet their overall calorie needs!. It is now more or less agreed that white sugar, fructose sugars and high gycemic index (GI) carbohydrates of refined grain flours are the real culprits in damaging the health of millions of Americans, Europeans and populations in other wealthy countries.

A curious fact brought out recently by a group of scientists from the US and Scotland is that because of taking a premature decision on fat consumption then, world is facing the present health crisis. Butter is a very common food adjunct used world over for centuries and by casting aspersion on its health credentials, a whole generation of population has been shunning it ever since the guidelines were issued in 1977. Same is true with cheese and other dairy products also. Even to day there is a sustained attack on milk consumption in the US and the dairy industry in that country is struggling with declining demand, with the per capita consumption continuously falling during the last few years, from 78 liters per person in the year 2000 to less than 70 liters in 2009 and further anticipated to decline by 3% in 2020!. What was the result of this presumed mistake? The obesity epidemic, heart disease, blood pressure, kidney ailments, cancer cases have devastated the people with no hope of coming out of this crisis. Possibly consumers, in order to meet their energy requirements started depending more and more on carbohydrates in stead of fat. Added to this another folly was committed by consuming carbohydrate foods mostly based on refined floors, white sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)! Further damage was done by decreasing consumption of fruits and vegetables which are considered the most health friendly foods in this planet! Is this not a right recipe for disaster?

It is too often forgotten that food cannot be considered in a fragmented format in terms of fat, carbohydrate, protein, fiber and other nutrients but should be looked at holistically through the every day diet people consume. If this is an accepted fact, then man will be well off if a mixed diet containing whole grains, healthy fats, proteins from lean meats or legumes, milk, fruits and vegetables are consumed regularly without over eating. There is a feeling now among scientists that the food market of to day is dangerously weighted against healthy foods and the consumers are not realizing the bitter truth that tastier the food more unhealthy it can be! This ground reality is being exploited by the industry in making market place foods highly tasty and mouth watering! Probably this situation may continue unless concrete action is thought of, to improve the "food environment" in the market place with more choices of healthy foods being made available while shrinking the portfolio of unhealthy foods! How this can be achieved is some thing the stakeholders in this triangle viz industry, government and the consumers, must sit together and take appropriate decisions.

V.H.POTTY

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

Saturated fats in foods-Are they villains or just harmless players?

Thousands of treatise have been written, millions of words printed, umpteen number of seminars and workshops organized and many national and international advisories issued regarding the dangers inherent in consuming diets rich in saturated fats. Practically every school going child has been indoctrinated into believing that saturated fats are not good for health and almost every nutrition and health expert of some standing "villainize" these fats endlessly with no respite. Can we hold all of them irresponsible in making such claims during the last 3 decades? One cannot help getting a feeling that they are all prisoners of the big hype created against saturated fats based on inadequate interpretation and improper appreciation of the knowledge already available. It is good that this record of denunciation is being set right by recent massive studies to decide once for all whether saturated fats are really as bad as it has been made out to be.

According to new studies surfaced during the last 2-3 years saturated fat when consumed as a part of a balanced diet can never be harmful to the body though on a nutritional scale unsaturated fats may score over the former. Dramatic shift in the attitude of Westerners towards saturated fats in favor of their  unsaturated counterparts during the last 3 decades, did not bring down the incidences of diseases like CVD, Blood Pressure, Obesity and Diabetes among the population there! On the contrary this shift in dietary changes in favour of unsaturated fats containing MUFA and PUFA with emphasis on Omega-3-acids has increased the obesity and over weight population to a record high of 35% of the total population in a typical wealthy country like the US! Against this background can any one claim that consumption of more unsaturated fats has contributed to this epidemic? The lesson one has to draw is that diet needs to be considered in a holistic way, not based on the presence or absence of one particular ingredient such as saturated fat.  

One of the defining moments in the history of American dietary habits was demonizing saturated fats which led to a situation when industry literally went over board, curtailing and eliminating fats altogether from their products. Instead of fats, the new range of products contained more sugar and highly refined carbohydrates to replace the pared down fat ingredients. One of the consequences was that these products were not able to create necessary satiety in the consumer, to stop him from eating more, leading to the phenomenon of binge eating and uncontrolled weight gains. The industry did not stop at that and went on creating more and more eye catching products with high sensory attraction to tickle unsatiated consumers who responded to this by buying such products more frequently. It is said that a consumer can eat a product containing no fat almost double the quantity compared to a normal product with normal fat concentration! This is how the history of American obesity epidemic is going to be written for posterity. Can we claim that saturated fats caused this? Positively not! 

Health pundits are now more or less agreed that saturated fat when consumed from a mixed diet in which carbohydrate components are derived from whole cereals, unprocessed legumes, fruits and vegetables can never cause those diseases from which world is suffering to day. When discussing about fat,  one should not forget to mention the role of trans fats which are created by man in food products, by bad processing practices and which is really considered harmful to human body without any doubt. Where does it come from? Many creamy products to which people including kids are addicted, use hydrogenated fats made from liquid oils through catalytic saturation using heavy metal catalysts. It is rather mysterious why no country in the world has banned production of hydrogenated fats which during its process of manufacture generate trans fatty acids. The policy of restricting its presence to certain levels came rather late after some procrastination and mandatory declaration of the same on front of the pack labels are right steps that can contribute to better health of the consumers.

Though the above commentary makes it clear that consumers should not abhor saturated fats altogether, further work with human subjects through well designed clinical trials can confirm the above facts beyond a shadow of doubt. Mean while if one wants to continue to use liquid oils in preference to saturated fats like Palm oil or coconut oil they are free to do so, probably for a better health index. Recent publication about the beneficial effect of a blend of raw sesame oil and refined rice bran oil.on human beings, in terms of lowering cholesterol levels and reducing blood sugar levels is refreshing in these days of fat bashing! These findings clearly bring out that unrefined foods, as natural as possible can be the game changer for the survival of humanity with sound health.  

It is good that the world is slowly coming to the realization that low fat foods do not achieve much in terms of health and probably lower consumption of refined carbohydrates like white sugar, HFCS, refined grain flours and restricting salt intake would do more good in the long run. A low fat product loaded with refined carbs and salt may put the consumer in the comfort zone without realizing that such diets can be more harmful that saturated fats. Those advocates who promote low fat and zero fat consumption must realize that there are many fat soluble ingredients including vitamins, some micro nutrients and a variety of plant derived health protectants that will not get access to the blood stream unless adequate fat is present in the diet consumed every day. The ultimate "mantra" for good health is live like a normal human being as our ancestors lived by adopting a diet which is based on natural, unprocessed and unrefined food components as much as possible without caring whether they contain saturated fat or not!  

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

The mysterious Bilophila wadsworthia -A gut bug with monstrous potential to damage health of excessive meat eaters!

Many of us associate bacteria with negative things as most pathogens causing a host of diseases belong to this group of microorganisms. But it is not a correct perception because there are many species friendly to man doing many things to support our health. Human microbiome which involves bacteria that thrive in and on human beings have received focused attention only recently and whatever has been unfolded is both exciting and scary. Exciting because it opens up avenues for maneuvering them for greater benefits and disease amelioration in humans. Scary because inappropriate food consumption habits and reckless diet can ruin them inviting disaster in the long run. The early recognition about the importance of dietary fiber was due to the role these fibers play inside the gut in providing a great service in avoiding many diseases including CVD, diabetes and obesity. 

Dietary fiber which is considered a "glamorous" ingredient in human diet is undigested by the metabolic system in human intestine and therefore not considered a nutrient in the true sense. But their role in promoting the growth of microbiota in intestine is universally recognized because many bacteria residing in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract are beneficial for improved health in many ways. Imagine how crowded is our intestine when it is found that more than 500 species of bacteria have settled down there with a 100 trillion cell count, almost 10 times more than human cells! As it is a question of co-existence between man and his intestinal crowd, latter must also receive appropriate foods in sufficient quantities to nourish and prosper. Since all food ingredients except fiber is digested by the powerful digesting enzymes in the GI tract, gut microbes depend largely on fiber, semi digested and undigested food that slip into the large intestine. Hence the importance of dietary fiber in human system.  

According to one of the recent studies changes in the diet can change the gut profile of bacteria within a matter of 2-3 days causing some damage to the well being of a person while in the long term such changes can be significantly injurious to the health. The major difference in the diets of carnivores, omnivores and herbivores can be attributed to the fiber content in the food they eat. While carnivores depend mostly on animal foods containing practically no fiber, omnivores take a mixed diet containing animal and plant foods. It is the herbivores who consume mostly plant based foods and materials like whole food grains and fruits and vegetables are rich in fiber, both soluble as well as insoluble types which are now being eulogized for their health supporting role in human lives. Microbiota works on these fiber components when they reach the large intestine and act on them to generate a host of metabolites including acetates, propionates and butyrates, short chain fatty acids which are implicated in many beneficiary action supporting good health.  

We are presently on the threshold of a major discovery about the importance the foods we eat and how such decisions can bring about dramatic changes in the microbiota in the GI. It is becoming increasingly clear that these tiny creatures have lot to do in influencing our body weight, immunity and behavior. Interest on studying the links between diet and the human microbiome appears to be growing. In a more recent study scientists tested the effect of two extreme diets, one overwhelmingly based on meat and cheese while the other one based on plant based food and it became apparent that the bacteria in the gut showed contrasting changes within 2-3 days. Microbes that belonging to the Bilophila species started to dominate the guts of the carnivores and this species can influence the inflammation level dramatically in the intestine. Earlier another study last year had confirmed that blooms of Bilophila in the gut can cause cause inflammation and colitis in experiments with animals. However no data is available regarding the levels of inflammation caused in the above study. 

Bilophila wadsworthia, the most conspicuous from this species is an anaerobic, gram negative, rod shaped bacteria which is present to the extent of 0.01% in the gut microbiota of a normal person. This appears to have the ability to ferment under appropriate conditions substrates like bile, mostly from the meat and similar animal derived foods and produce hydrogen sulphide prolifically. They are slow to grow unless very favorable conditions are obtained and adhere to human cells waiting for an opportune time to bloom. Increased numbers of this microbe have been found in clinical samples of persons affected by diseases like sepsis, liver abscesses, cholecystitis, empyema, osteomyelitis, etc. Gut disorders like Intestinal Bowl Syndrome (IBS) and Crohn's disease are also suspected to be associated with this microorganism. With such abundance of insight into this unique bacteria further studies are bound to be undertaken for expanding our present knowledge about the role played by gut bacteria in human health.

This Blog does not wish to deprecate those consuming meat but only wants to caution them regarding excessive eating and probably suggesting that they need to balance their diet by including more and more and more fiber rich foods like whole food grains, fruits, and vegetables. Same applies to vegetarian consumers with tendency to gorge on cheese and paneer who have to exercise some moderation on these tasty foods. As further studies are bound to follow a clear picture will emerge only when there is a unanimity on the findings and conclusions presented in this Blog piece. 

V.H.POTTY

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

  

THE SUGAR "HATERS"-WILL THE NEW MANTRA ON SUGAR CONTROL WORK?

Sugar is a natural food component present in almost all fruits but man learned to manufacture it from sugarcane and sugar beets in the last century and then started a big transformation in the health status of people in successive generations. At least this is the contention of a number of pundits knowledgeable about human nutrition and health. If obesity epidemic, diabetes, CVD and  hypertension are threatening to annihilate mankind, the first accused is sugar and its allies (other carbohydrates). Next comes fat (saturated and trans types) which get into the human system in a variety of ways complicating the case of over weight and other diseases. 

Recent reports trying to applaud the processed food industry for moderating their products vis-a-vis calorie content do not tell much though figures have been quoted regarding how many trillions of calories the industry was able to reduce in its total portfolio. Whether this was accomplished through fat reduction or sugar reduction is also not known. Credit to some extent must go to some of the leading players in food industry in recognizing the urgent need for reducing calorie content and increasing the nutrient density which can only bring about any perceptible positive changes in human health. The tragedy is that this world is inexorably rushing to a catastrophe through reckless eating aided and abetted by the processing industry which feeds them with mouth watering food products mostly with "empty" calories! It is time this trend is halted and eventually reversed.

Small policy changes such as ban on large serving sizes tried out in New York in case of beverages, can trigger a shift in population behavior to consume less but the over riding concern for personal liberty in choosing what one wants to consume is coming in the way of enforcing such enlightened and well meaning efforts. It may be true to say that wealth of a nation influences the eating behavior of its population. Look at a country like India where majority of its people live in poverty, the pack sizes of processed foods are progressively declining and consequently the unit price also are less as the industry wanted to bring more and more people with lesser income to its buying ambit. On the contrary in a rich country like the US, jumbo sizes of food packs and servings are order of the day! This raises the inevitable question whether the health policy administrators should start thinking in terms of restricting the pack and serving sizes through mandatory means. Possibly large sized portions or packs of foods can be taxed high while their smaller counterparts are spared. 

There is a class of pundits  who think that the current trend of uncontrolled development of obesity in many countries across the world is definitely due to high sugar content in foods manufactured by the industry and probably there is some truth in this stand. Their assertion that . the obesity epidemic can be arrested and even reversed within a span of five years if the food industry makes cuts the amount of "hidden sugar" in their products, must be viewed seriously in this context. According to many doctors, sugar is a major cause of obesity and it is also known to contribute to development of type 2 diabetes. A new campaign has been recently kick started under the banner of "Action Sugar" that aims to increase the awareness about the dangers of sugar and exert pressure on the industry and the policy makers to take effective measures to bring down the sugar content in processed foods.

" Action Sugar" seems to have taken courage by the success of similar efforts during the last one decade to cut down on salt intake by the population which is considered responsible for hypertension and stroke in millions of people across the world. This campaign is considered a success measured by the 15% reduction in salt intake among the population achieved between 2001 and 2011 and  reducing incidences of myocardial infarction and cerebral strokes significantly between 2001 and 2011, .

The current thinking that if major manufacturers reduced the amount of sugar in their products, (about 20 to 30 per cent decrease in sugar content) in three to five years, the obesity epidemic could be stopped or even reversed. How this can be achieved is the crucial question. The voluntary approach is an ideal way of solving this problem but whether this will really work out on a collective level is doubtful. The 6.4 trillion calorie cut down claim by the industry and a consequent reduction of 74 calories per capita per day does not seem to have made any impact and hence mandatory restrictive policies will have to be thought of to force the manufacturers to reduce use of sugar drastically in most processed products.  

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

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

ARTERY CLEANING FOODS-A NEW GIMMICK?

Those who suffer from artery "clogging" due to high cholesterol content in the blood must be excited about the news that it is possible to de-clog the arteries without any medication like Statins. The multi billion dollar Statin industry that thrives on atherosclerosis disease affecting millions of people across the world is soon going to have a competitor with better credentials! Of course one will naturally ask the question as to why people suffer from clogging of arteries which can manifest in myocardial infarction or stroke, if adequate discipline is exercised regarding the diet one consumes. Unfortunately even the best psychologists in the world cannot answer the question because human behavior is not amenable to change easily and food consumption practices are evolved over years, influenced by economic factors and the living environment.

The most manifested symptom of arterial clogging, chest pain, is treated with prescription medicines but invariably the affected person ends up too often under the knife of a cardiac surgeon. As arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle gradually become blocked by plaques of cholesterol, fat, cells, and debris, the heart muscle is starved of oxygen. Drugs that are in the market may reduce the pain temporarily though eventually the patient has to seek surgical remedy. Coronary bypass operation or a plaque - busting angioplasty is necessary to restore blood flow to the heart. The alternative is a heart attack and such bypass operations are becoming routine these days in many affluent countries. The surgical intervention is not considered absolutely safe with some unable to survive the procedure. In about 6 percent of cases, it is known to cause brain damage. Another bitter fact is that it is not a permanent cure with the patient forced to go back to the hospital within six to eight years for a repeat of the surgery to repair the arteries again.

An oft repeated question is whether medical intervention is absolutely necessary to restore the health of the arteries and some believe there are alternative choices. It is now realized that clogging of arteries can be reversed through appropriate foods or supplements now being developed by some health products companies. Foods like garlic, oats, soy products, beans and walnuts seem to have the property to reverse clogging if consumed in optimal quantities regularly. The ability of arteries to clean themselves without the help of medicines, if simple diet and lifestyle changes are adopted, has been amply demonstrated and has been accepted by the medical fraternity. Under the right diet and exercise regimen, blockages in the arteries actually shrink significantly within an year. It was in 1990 that the role of diet in reducing atherosclerosis was brought out unambiguously when subjects with varying degree of atherosclerosis found their arteries getting rid of bad cholesterol on a vegetarian diet regimen compared to those consuming preparations with meat and fish regularly.  

The role of dietary fiber in reducing cholesterol levels in the blood is now well established. Its ability to "wash out" the cholesterol from the GI tract and not allowing it to be reabsorbed across the intestine is recognized. The recommendation to include 25-30 gm of fiber in daily diet has arisen out of the above conviction and dietary fiber has spawned an industry which sells fiber-rich supplements made from different sources. Even many "synthetic" dietary fiber preparations are being marketed though they cannot work as efficiently as natural fibers from whole cereal, pulses, fruits and vegetables. As the evidence about dietary fiber helping to reduce cholesterol has not been established conclusively through human studies of significant scale, any claim to be printed on the label of a food is some what premature. As the control regime on food supplements is not very strong, many manufacturers get away by making such claims to boost business.

The difficulty in accepting the limited evidence is due to the diverse nature of fibers used in different studies and the tendency to generalize the findings. To date FDA of the US had accorded approval to a Tomato extract that was proved to be effective as a blood thinner in place of Aspirin which is not recommended for normally healthy persons due to its adverse effect on gut health and hemoglobin level and its relatively long metabolic life of 20 days. How ever active efforts are on to get a few products cleared for arterial cleaning and one of them made from a Chitin-glucan fraction derived from Aspergillus niger seems to be promising. The human trials currently underway can only confirm its efficacy as an acceptable artery cleaning supplement.

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

LOOK AT THE MIRROR, SAVE YOURSELF!

Over weight, obesity, BMI and similar words always instill a sense of fear amongst people, especially those self conscious of their body weight changes at different phases of their life. No matter what doctors and nutritionists say about the connection between heart diseases and food consumption, very few take them seriously as the repercussions are not immediate to be perceptible on a day to day basis. Every body must be aware that over eating is the major reason for life style disorders like Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD) but still indulge in calorie rich foods because either such foods are easily available or they do not have the ability to gauge the caloric load and high fat contents in many foods. Intervention in States like California in the US is some times criticized because many think it is infringing on individuals' right to eat what he needs or likes. But is this stand sustainable when the whole nation's health is affected by injudicious consumption habits fostered by the environment, the State itself has created in the name of value addition and industrial development under a free economy? California, a progressive State gained attention recently because of its two actions in disciplining the food sector and restraining them from making available unbalanced foods through state policies. First it proposed to bring in zoning regulations to ban setting up of fast food out lets near newly laid residential lay outs so that the residents will have to travel some distance before gaining access to so called junk foods with empty calories. Second, the insistence on declaring nutritional composition of every food served in the restaurants is intended to sensitize the consumer regarding high calories and high fats.

According to a new study at the famous DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center in Houston, many people can be saved from heart diseases if a conscious attempt is made even to reduce some weight instead of aiming to reach ideal BMI through rigorous dieting which puts off many people from even trying. For example if a person's ideal weight is 60 kg and the actual weight is 75 kg, the 20% weight reduction to be achieved probably would never be feasible unless very rigorous diet and exercise regimes are imposed. But the new study gives great hope to such persons to save themselves from CVD and other diseases through a limited attempt to reduce their weight by as little as 6.5% to get significant benefits. What are these so called benefits? If the report from this Center is to be believed, such benefits include substantial reductions in blood pressure, triglycerides and total cholesterol, which in turn will reduce dramatically the risks associated with CVD. More significantly these impressive results occur early in the weight loss regime, well before the individuals even begin to approach their ideal body weight. Since this study was done in the internationally reputed heart institute, millions of people may derive solace and relief by raising their spirit and getting into modest weight losing programs.

Restaurants in India are being pulled from two directions, one from the consumers and the other from the nutritionists. Their reputation lies in serving best tasting foods in their out lets which obviously is possible only by using high fats and lot of frying, both considered dangerous from the health point of view. But nutritionists want them to design balanced preparations, avoid trans fats, saturated fats, acrylamides etc. With keen competition for the attention of the customers, many caterers are reluctant to modify their traditional recipes and cooking modes and this ensues a vicious cycle trapping both the consumers and the hoteliers. With eating out practice not widely prevalent now, the role of eateries in aggravating the current over weight traits in people is rather limited but in future such a situation may arise especially in metro regions where high family income and time constraints will drive customers in droves to restaurants. If proper strategy is drawn now to pre-empt serving of high fat, high calorie, less fiber foods in public eateries, the nation can avoid uncontrolled growth of obesity and accompanying morbidity in coming years. Restaurant sector must be forced to include at least 20% of their offerings with low fats, low sugar, trans fat free, high fiber, low sodium and other beneficial plant ingredients. Agencies like MFPI, Ministry of Health, DST, DBT, ICAR, National Horticulture Board and National Dairy Development Board must pool their resources to help the hoteliers by sponsoring R & D in competent organizations for developing healthy foods and making the recipes available to them.

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