Taste vs nutrition: what to eat?

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In the olden days, humans used to eat raw foods. Over time, they learnt the art of making fire and cooking. Now, people eat mostly cooked foods. They discovered spices and herbs and began their culinary use for aroma and taste.  This has further reached a stage where people prefer processed and ultra processed foods that are easily available in supermarkets. This could be due to lack of time and laziness, but many also prefer these foods due to the taste factor.  But when we look for tasty foods, somewhere along the way we are opting for less nutritious foods. So what should one prefer; tasty foods or nutritious foods? Tasty foods Most tasty foods are made of refined flour, unhealthy fats, and sugary base. These are artificially flavored and colored. Other additives are added to enhance texture and make foods more palatable.  Most of these foods are mass prepared and have added preservatives to increase their shelf life.  All this leads to these foods being stripped of their nutrition.
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Yoga and health: Is Yoga really useful? A meta-analysis in various conditions

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 Yoga has been claimed to aid in a number of health issues and said to be good for the well-being of a person. It has its origin in spirituality and mental well-being and some scattered studies on its benefits have been carried out in the world with variable results. Cochrane has done systematic reviews of it in various medical conditions. Ian Chalmers founded the Cochrane Collaboration in 1993 to do a systematic review of all the randomized controlled studies in the field of health care. In paramedical cases, even non-randomized and observational studies were included. Let us have a look at it: 

Cochrane Collaboration [Source: Researchgate]

Yoga in depression

Cochrane has found in 2013 that there was moderate evidence of the short-term use of yoga in depression as compared to other medicines. But there was limited evidence as regards its comparison with relaxation techniques. None of the studies talked about its safety in this condition and the long-term benefits were not studied. Sure-shot benefits cannot be assured. 

Yoga in anxiety

The meta-analysis of the various studies carried out in 2018 revealed inconclusive evidence on the role of yoga in anxiety alleviation. 

Yoga in Prenatal depression

The 2015 Cochrane analysis of the various studies on the use of yoga in prenatal depression concluded: 

"Prenatal yoga intervention in pregnant women may be effective in partly reducing depressive symptoms."

Yoga in Multiple Sclerosis

There has been no benefit found of yoga in Multiple Sclerotic patients. The 2014 Cochrane analysis revealed in the end: 

"In conclusion, since no methodological sound evidence was found, no recommendation can be made regarding yoga as a routine intervention for patients with multiple sclerosis."

Yoga [Source: Yoga journal]

Yoga in stroke rehabilitation

2017 meta-analysis of yoga in stroke revealed no evidence of its usefulness in the condition. The researchers concluded: 

"However, this review has identified insufficient information to confirm or refute the effectiveness or safety of yoga as a stroke rehabilitation treatment. Further large-scale methodologically robust trials are required to establish the effectiveness of yoga as a stroke rehabilitation treatment."

Yoga in major depressive disorder

This meta-analysis was done in 2017 and found that there is no evidence that yoga helps in this condition. There was no 'for' or 'against' recommendations and the analysis stated that more randomized and controlled properly designed studies are required to prove or disprove its role in these conditions. The conclusion was: 

"Larger and adequately powered RCTs using non-inferiority designs are needed."

Yoga and Asthma

No great benefits of yoga in asthma was reported in the Cochrane analysis of 2016. The authors stated: 

"We found moderate-quality evidence that yoga probably leads to small improvements in quality of life and symptoms in people with asthma. There is more uncertainty about potential adverse effects of yoga and its impact on lung function and medication usage. RCTs with a large sample size and high methodological and reporting quality are needed to confirm the effects of yoga for asthma."

Yoga and chronic non-specific back pain

There was no efficacy of yoga in these conditions in the 2017 Cochrane meta-analysis. The researchers opined at the end of the systematic review of the studies: 

"It is uncertain whether there is any difference between yoga and other exercise for back-related function or pain, or whether yoga added to exercise is more effective than exercise alone. Yoga is associated with more adverse events than non-exercise controls, but may have the same risk of adverse events as other back-focused exercise. Yoga is not associated with serious adverse events. There is a need for additional high-quality research to improve confidence in estimates of effect, to evaluate long-term outcomes, and to provide additional information on comparisons between yoga and other exercise for chronic non-specific low back pain."

Yoga and menopausal symptoms

A systematic review of the various studies carried out to study the use of yoga in menopausal symptoms revealed that its benefits were similar to the other exercise interventions. 

Yoga in breast cancer 

The meta-analysis by Cochrane found that there is very minimal evidence to support the fact that yoga could be used as an alternative to other exercise regimes in breast cancer (2017)

Yoga [Source: FindHealth Clinics]

Yoga in osteoarthritis

The recommendation of Cochrane in advocating yoga for osteoarthritis is weak due to low methodological quality and risk of bias in the studies (2019). 

Yoga in the positive mental health of adults who are healthy

No definite conclusions can be reached by the various studies conducted as regards the effect of yoga in the positive mental health of healthy adults (2017). 

Yoga in headaches

Some short-term benefits were found in the Cochrane meta-analysis on the role of yoga in headaches but the researchers added that more studies are required to confirm the findings. 

Yoga and blood pressure

Many meta-analyses have been carried out about the role of yoga in the cardiovascular health of adults but the results have been varied from no benefits to good benefits. More of multi-centric and non-biased randomized and controlled trials are required before they can be widely recommended in people. A 2019 meta-analysis of yoga on cardiac disease and rehabilitation also said: 

"Although many investigators have reported the clinical benefits of yoga in reducing cardiovascular events, morbidity, and mortality, evidence supporting these conclusions is somewhat limited, thereby emphasizing the need for large, well-designed randomized trials that minimize bias and methodological drawbacks."

Also, read https://lifensocietyblog.blogspot.com/2020/11/new-study-italy-origin-covid-19.html

Yoga and metabolic syndrome

A meta-analysis carried out in 2016 revealed that: 

"Based on the results of this meta-analysis, no recommendation can be made for or against yoga in order to influence the parameters of metabolic syndrome."

Yoga in post-traumatic stress disorder

Holger Cramer concludes in this systematic review of 2018:  

"Only a weak recommendation for yoga as an adjunctive intervention for PTSD can be made. More high-quality research is needed to confirm or disconfirm these findings."

Considering that the independent scientific reviews of the studies of yoga in various health-related conditions have drawn almost a null, can the people especially politicians and celebrities stop using yoga for their self-interest. They can please leave the advice on yoga for the medical trained doctors and practitioners to do it for the patients. This would be useful for patient care since ignorant and internet-savvy patients would then concentrate on more useful remedies for their ailments rather than putting blind faith in yoga for it!!! The politicians and celebrities can please concentrate on their work and try some other non-harmful means to propagate themselves!!!

Also, read https://healthfitnessnwellnessblog.blogspot.com/2020/11/succulents-indoors-tips-care.html


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