Anil Kulkarni, a professor in the Department of Surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, was awarded a highly competitive Fulbright-Nehru Scholarship Award for Academic and Professional Experience to travel to India this fall to teach immunonutrition and functional foods in the global health era.

Fulbright grant recipients are chosen by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, a 12-member group appointed by the president. Grants are made possible through funds appropriated by the U.S. Congress and by contributions from partner countries and the private sector.

"Immunonutrition may be a modern term, but through the ages humans and animals have learned how to maintain and restore good health by modifying food intake that could enhance the body's defense system," Kulkarni explained.

On his Fulbright fellowship, Kulkarni will work with four universities in India: Sikkim Manipal University Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita University Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi, Deccan Education Society affiliated Pune' University and its Fergusson College, and Haffkine Institute in Mumbai affiliated with the University of Mumbai.

"The Fulbright fellowship will allow me to teach the discipline in various academic institutions of higher and medical institutions in India and learn more about the state of medical education in this field in India. I will then be able to write and improvise a course curriculum for this neglected and ignored field in U.S. medical schools and health science centers," he explained.

Kulkarni said he first became aware of the impact of health and disease on society as a young boy growing up in rural India.

"Our family was raised on culture of Ayurveda and yoga practice. At that time, my grandfather had a home cottage industry preparing a preserve made with several herbs and spices from markets in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa. When taken daily, this preserve would improve physiology by increasing blood cells, stamina, and overall health," he recalled.

 "I wondered about having a career in medicine, or getting involved in advocacy of proper nutrition and preventive health care. Eventually, I graduated with a Ph.D. degree in Faculty of Medicine from The United Kingdom."

"Because of the social and economic inequality in India, public health issues vary widely. The country faces numerous problems arising from poverty; such as malnourishment and infectious diseases, as well as problems in the wealthy; such as, increased incidence of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases," he said.

"In the last decade or so India has experienced extraordinary economic growth which has had an alarming impact on the rates of lifestyle diseases; such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and cancer. In the next decade, lifestyle diseases are expected to grow at a faster rate than infectious diseases in India."

As part of his fellowship, one of his goals back home in Houston will be to establish the Center of ImmunonUTrition, which will feature the development of basic and translational curriculum in these specific areas. "This will be first of its kind organization in the world," Kulkarni said. "We will seek collaboration and cooperation from all the medical and educational institutions in the world's largest medical center, the Texas Medical Center."

Kulkarni said immunonutrition has a place in all countries. "My background and professional experience, for almost last four decades, has convinced me that there is a greater than ever need for immunonutrition education of the society at all levels," he said.

Source: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

 

Could watermelons substitute Viagra and other erectile dysfunction medicines?

Watermelons may be mostly water — about 92 percent — but these refreshing fruits are soaked with nutrients. Each juicy bite gives you significant levels of vitamins A, B6 and C, lots of lycopene, antioxidants and amino acids, and even a modest amount of potassium. Plus, this quintessential summer snack is fat-free, very low in sodium, and has only 40 calories per cup.

Scientists have taken notice of watermelon’s high lycopene levels. Lycopene is the red pigment that gives watermelons, tomatoes, red grapefruits and guavas their color. It’s also a valuable carotenoid phytonutrient linked with heart health, bone health and prostate cancer prevention.

Watermelon has some of the highest levels of lycopene of any type of fresh produce, at about 15 to 20 milligrams per 2-cup serving. To really maximize your lycopene intake, let your watermelon fully ripen. The redder your watermelon gets, the higher the concentration of lycopene becomes.

Beta-carotene and phenolic antioxidant content also increase as the watermelon ripens. However, all parts of the watermelon —including the white flesh nearest the rind — contain lots of nutrients.

Watermelon also contains a significant amount of the amino acid citrulline, which converts to the amino acid arginine. These amino acids promote blood flow, leading to cardiovascular health, improved circulation, and as some scientists have suggested, erectile dysfunction improvement (you’d probably have to eat a lot of watermelon to get a Viagra-like effect, though).

Maize fortification introduced in fight of nutrient deficiencies in Tanzania

The fight against most forms of nutrient deficiencies has been strengthened, with the introduction of a plan to fortify maize meal and bread flour with minerals and vitamins in rural settings.

Speaking with the ‘Daily News on Saturday,’ Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC) Managing Director, Mr Benedict Jeje, said a pilot project in Iringa, Arusha and Njombe regions which concentrated on small milling plants had started.

“After conducting an assessment, we started preparations for the fortification of maize flour since last year.

We have already trained service providers and extension officers,” he said. Fortification is the addition of specific amounts of one or more micronutrients (vitamins and/or minerals) to food to improve the nutritional quality of the daily meals the people consume.

The purpose of fortification is to correct a recognised countrywide micronutrient deficiency. Micronutrients are essential vitamins and minerals that are needed in small amounts for various physiological functions, but which cannot be made in sufficient quantities in the body.

Because the body cannot produce them they must be provided regularly in food. Mr Jeje said take-off of the operations would go hand-in-hand with the distribution and installation of scoops or spoon-like utensils, that will be used for a debe or half a debe of flour that will contain a pre-mixture of nutrients.

He revealed that the gadgets had already been imported and that the project was being supported by the World Bank.

The MD said that another rural fortification programme was being conducted in Morogoro, Manyara and Dodoma regions by Project Health Children from Nepal that had started by using feeders or dosifiers, a simple gadget that is fixed on the mills, adding that 30 of them had already been ordered for the three regions.

“The evaluation of the pilot project has so far shown very positive signs and we are planning to scale it up in the whole country. This will see an increase in the number of fortified foods from wheat and oil to maize, sugar, cassava and salt,” he said.

Current statistics show that 42 per cent of under-five children are stunted as a result of malnutrition while six in 10 children are anaemic. Mr Jeje said malnutrition was a huge problem in the country which called for urgent strategies to address it, including focusing on food-based approaches.

Giving an example of the Vitamin A supplementation programme which the government runs annually at a cost of 300m/-, Mr Jeje said the figure could drastically be reduced if more emphasis was put on orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP).

He said the fact that less than 75 per cent of women visit clinics after delivery, it had been difficult for the supplementation programme to attain 100 per cent coverage, making it very expensive to sustain when funding was coming from development partners.

“OFSP has the advantage of being both a food and a cash crop. I say, let’s not rely on the Vitamin A tablet supplementation. What is needed is agriculture that is nutrition-sensitive,” he stressed.

Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives spokesperson, Dr Richard Kasuga, said during a media sensitisation workshop on OFSP that the task of addressing nutrition challenges in the country was for everyone.

Dr Kasuga said that unlike what many people thought, the education problem that the nation was facing wasn’t about teaching manuals or which ministers hold office, but rather the fact that children were not being given the right foods in their first 1,000 days.

“It has reached a stage where there are people saying that 40 per cent of Tanzanians do not think well. Now, whether it is through madness or not, I cannot say, but one thing is for sure – there is need to think differently on how to address our current nutrition problems,” he said.

He was of the opinion that starting with OFSP was the best option to address the challenges, adding that if change started now things could be on track after 100 years and that a delay would require 200 years.

Geita District Commissioner (DC), Mr Manzie Mangochie, said he had for the past two years allocated 25m/- from the council’s funds for the production of OFSP and another 545m/- from the mining community.

Mr Mangochie said it was his firm belief that the orange potato was the answer he was seeking in bridging most health-related MDGs and maternal and child health complications most cost-effectively and sustainably.

By MASEMBE TAMBWE, Tanzania Daily News

Potassium in your diet: How to get more of a heart-healthy mineral

The labels on food packages may soon include the amount of potassium in the food. That's because the Food and Drug Administration's proposed changes to nutrition labels, announced on February this year, includes a requirement for listing potassium content.

Some Americans aren't getting enough potassium, a mineral that is beneficial in lowering blood pressure, in their diets, the FDA said in a statement. This proposed label change is one of many, but if the FDA is recognizing the need for increased dietary potassium, it may be time for us all to sit up and take notice.

How important is this mineral? Well, a 2011 study in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine found that Americans who eat a diet low in potassium were about twice as likely to die from a heart attack, compared with those whose diets have high levels of the mineral. The study doesn't prove cause-and-effect, but it does suggest a role of potassium in health.

Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes: Health benefits, risks & nutrition facts

Soft and creamy enough to be put in pies and called dessert, sweet potatoes are also a surprisingly nutritious vegetable. The orange-fleshed tubers are especially high in vitamin A (also called beta-carotene, which is the carotenoid that turns into vitamin A), vitamins C, E, and B6, fiber and manganese.

They even contain some iron. Plus, they’re fat-free, relatively low in sodium, and have fewer calories than white potatoes — although they do have more sugar.

Sweet potatoes are one of the best vitamin A sources out there, containing more than 100 percent of the daily recommended intake. Vitamin A is an antioxidant powerhouse, and beta-carotene has been linked to anti-aging benefits, cancer prevention, and helping maintain good eyesight.

While the orange variety is the most common in the United States, sweet potatoes also come in white, yellow, pink, and purple varieties. While the orange and yellow types contain the most vitamin A, the purple sort is an excellent way to get antioxidants. 

High-fibre diet 'benefits heart attack patients'

If you have had a heart attack, eat plenty of fibre because it may improve your long-term chances of recovery, say US researchers.

Heart-attack survivors were more likely to be alive nine years later if they followed a high-fibre diet, a study in the British Medical Journal found.

Every 10g-per-day increase in fibre intake was linked with a 15 per cent drop in death risk during the study. Dietary fibre may improve blood pressure and cholesterol, experts say.

On average, most people in the UK get about 14g of fibre a day, against a target of at least 18g. US experts recommend up to 38g a day.

Fruit, such as bananas and apples, root vegetables, such as carrots and potatoes, wholemeal bread, cereals and bran are all good sources of dietary fibre.

A jacket potato and baked beans contain about 10g of fibre; two slices of wholemeal bread about 4g.

Breakfast cereals

A low-fibre diet is associated with constipation and gut diseases, such as diverticulitis and bowel cancer, but it may also have implications for heart health, say US researchers.

The Harvard School of Public Health team analysed data from two large US studies involving more than 4,000 men and women who had survived a first heart attack and had provided information about their usual diet via questionnaires.

They were followed for an average of almost nine years after their heart attacks, during which time 682 of the women and 451 of the men died.

Chances of survival appeared to be linked with fibre intake, which was mostly from breakfast cereals.

The one in five who ate most fibre had a 25 per cent lower chance of dying from any cause during the nine years after their heart attack compared with the fifth who ate the least. The high-fibre group was 13 per cent less likely to have a fatal heart attack. 

The researchers say the findings point to a simple lifestyle step that people could take, alongside their medication, to improve their long-term health prospects.

Victoria Taylor, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "High-fibre foods are a key part of a healthy balanced diet, and this study suggests they may have a particular benefit for heart-attack survivors.

"We can't say for sure what caused the fibre benefit seen here, but we do know that, on average, we're not getting enough fibre in our diets.

"Fibre comes from a range of foods, including fruit and veg, beans and lentils, and also from cereal products, which this study found to be particularly beneficial.

"To get more fibre, you can make simple swaps, such as trading white bread for wholegrain versions or opting for higher-fibre breakfast cereals, like porridge or muesli."

SOURCE: BBC