Taste vs nutrition: what to eat?

-
Image
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.
Post a Comment

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is out for public use! What side-effects to expect? Is it safe?

-

COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in people. The safety of this vaccine has been tested on 37586 trial participants that were part of the Phase 3 clinical trial. The company reports that the most common side-effect of the vaccine was at the injection site in form of redness, swelling, and pain. But what were the other ill-effects of the vaccine. 

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

The USA FDA has issued the first Emergency use authorization or EUA to COVID-19 vaccine of Pfizer-BioNTech. It is for children 16 years and above and adults. The FDA authorities took into consideration the presently available data on the efficacy and safety of the vaccine that was provided to them by the company. It was the data of the Phase 3 clinical trials of the vaccine on volunteers. 

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine [Source: CNN]

While providing the approval, the FDA said that the potential benefits of the vaccine outweigh the potential risks of the vaccine. This implies that the vaccine does have adverse effects on certain individuals. So what are these side-effects to expect?

Efficacy and safety of the vaccine

Research states that the vaccine is 95% effective in preventing the disease in the people who are vaccinated. It also states that the said vaccine has a good safety profile. Dr. Matthew Heinz from Tucson in Arizona said: 

“Based on the large number of folks that have been closely monitored during the study, the patient safety profile is excellent in terms of side effects,”

He added: 

“Of course, we have to continue to monitor going forward. We need to continue to collect data to make sure it stays that way,” 

Schedule and side-effects to expect!

The vaccine is given 3 weeks apart in two doses. The clinical trial was done on 37586 people and of these, 18801 got the vaccine and 18785 received placebo. These participants had 2 months followup with the researchers. 

The most common side effect reported (84% of the recruits) was pain at the injection site and also some reaction. Dr. Mathhew informed Healthline: 

“You sometimes get some redness, some warmth, a little bit of mild swelling or firmness around the site of the injection. That’s very typical,”

“It can be a little tender, it can hurt to move the arm a little bit,”

63% of participants reported fatigue after taking the vaccine. 55% complained of headaches and 38% had muscle pains after the vaccine. These symptoms were of the mild type lasting for a day or two. Fewer people complained of chilly feelings, fever, or joint pain after the vaccine dose. This was more after the second dose of the vaccine. Dr. Matthew explained: 

“[The reaction to the second dose] tends to be a little more of an intense response, which does make sense, considering your immune system has been exposed already,”

“It gets hit with another dose of [the vaccine], and it has a sort of quicker and more robust response. That makes a lot of sense immunologically,”

Rarer adverse events

Also, read Vipassana-A meta-analysis! Any use?

Serious adverse events have been reported with the vaccine and were less than 0.5% and with no difference in the vaccinated and placebo group. 4 people had Bell's palsy in the vaccinated group. But the incidence was similar to the normal occurrence of Bell's palsy in the said population. Those who are allergic should avoid the vaccine. 

COVID-19 vaccine [Source: BBC]

It needs to be seen what would happen if a vaccinated person develops a COVID-19 after the vaccination. Would it be mild or severe or fatal type? Such studies with dengue vaccine in the past in the Philippines have revealed that the disease was severe and fatal in vaccinated individuals. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Morton's toe: Everything you need to know about your longer second toe

-
Image
 Often, one notices that the second toe of some people is longer than the great toe. People say different things for it. Many of them say that it implies that the owner of such a longer second toe is a dominant, creative, energetic person in real life and very ambitious and peace and happiness-loving. But no one has tried to understand the reason, science, medicine and problems of having such a toe. It is called as Morton’s toe or Greek foot.  What is a Greek foot? Many people in the world have a longer second toe of the foot. Such feature may be on one side or in both the feet. It is called Morton’s toe or Greek foot. The other names for it are Morton’s foot or royal toe. But the reason is not the second toe is longer but the fact is that the first metatarsal below the great toe is shorter. Thus it is not due to the faulty phalanges but due to the difference in height of the metatarsals. Since the second metatarsal is relatively longer than the first metatarsal, the joint at the base
Read more

There can be no universal forgiveness! It never exists!

-
Image
Forgiveness or pardon means clearing off the feelings of resentment or revenge towards the offender. In most contexts it implies giving up any expectation of justice. People justify this act of forgiveness from a religious point of view and psychologists justify it as an act that would bring peace to the victim. But my experience tells me that both religion as well as psychologists are absolutely wrong in asking a victim to forgive the evil person. This act is bad from a society point of view and would lead to a rise in crimes and unhappiness. Let me explain in depth with examples. 1. I have a friend in the UK. She is originally from Nigeria. She has two siblings who are married with children and she herself is single and childless. In the year 2009, she had gone to her hometown. There her siblings tortured her physically and mentally and put her under house arrest. They did not want to give her any ancestral property and assets. She managed to free herself with the help of a friend an
Read more

Voluntary childlessness is on the rise in the world! What are the reasons for it?

-
Image
 The decision of couples to have no children by choice seems tough but is increasing in the modern world. Though society looks down at such couples, the availability of effective and safe contraception and old age support from non-family agencies has made things a bit easier for such decisions to be made.  Reasons for voluntary childlessness 1. Personal reasons such as not wanting responsibilities of a child.  2. The emphasis on career rather than reproduction 3. The lack of desire to forward one's family genes or line due to child abuse.  4. Anguish against existence in general. 5. Non-readiness to give up one's freetime and social time for children rearing 6. Happier to help others raise kids 7. Preferring a pet over a child 8. Not wanting to give up personal space and sharing it with a child.  9. Not happy with child-rearing things such as cleaning up mess, disturbing one's sleep etc. 10. Not particularly fond of children behavior. 11. In some situations, one partner alr
Read more