Food companies and their misleading labels

-
Image
Food is for nutrition and to provide the body with energy and vital nutrients. Names of foods help us to know what the likely ingredients might be in it. But often, we notice that food names are misleading. They can fool a person into buying only to realize that it did not meet their expectations and imagination. For instance, take the example of samosa. An ideal samosa is refined wheat flour (maida) wrap with mashed potatoes and boiled peas inside. And when we say paneer samosa (cottage cheese stuffed fried dumplings), the picture that comes to our mind is of a wrap of refined wheat flour dough with paneer inside. But to your disappointment, you will find that these samosas are nothing but the normal samosas with mashed potatoes with or without boiled peas and just 1 small piece of cottage cheese at one corner!!! If we talk about rusks, most of these are made of refined wheat flour or maida which is not healthy. Maida is stripped of all the vital nutrients such as fiber, vitamins,
Post a Comment

Double Trouble! Oregon COVID-19 strain has the backbone of the UK coronavirus variant strain B.1.1.7 and also the mutation of the South African virus variant!

-

 Coronavirus is testing the medical fraternity. Over the past few months, it has undergone several mutations that are increasing its inter-human transmission capacity. And now to add to this list is another variant of the virus discovered in Oregon. It has the backbone of the variant virus from the UK ( B.1.1.7) and also has the mutation of E484K or “Eek” that are seen in the variants from South Africa, Brazil, and New York City. So it is double trouble!!!

The Oregon variant of the coronavirus

Scientists from Oregon have discovered a variant of the coronavirus bug that has the high transmission capacity of the UK strain and also resistance to vaccine-induced immunity problem of the South African strain. It is double trouble and a formidable combination. There is a growing concern about this finding though it was isolated only from one patient until now. 

Genetic analysis has revealed that this strain has been acquired from the community and not developed de novo in the patient. 

Click to read here on Pineapple fruit-the wonder tropical fruit with health benefits! 

Scientists and their opinion on the Oregon strain

Oregon strain of coronavirus is doubly-potent [Source: Koin]

Brian O’Roak, a geneticist at Oregon Health and Science University revealed:

“We didn’t import this from elsewhere in the world — it occurred spontaneously,”

The UK strain also has spread like wildfire in the USA. 2500 cases of it were detected from 46 states. This is overwhelming. And now this new virus. It is fast-spreading and also deadlier. It could worsen the fragile state of the USA as regards the virus. 

More on the two-in-one mutation found in Oregon

This new virus has the backbone of the UK virus and also the mutation of the strain found in South Africa, Brazil, and New York. The Eek mutation has made the vaccines ineffective against them since they blunt the immune response. This is worrying and hence Pfizer and Moderna are trying new versions of the vaccine to counter this new strain. 

Such a dual mutated virus strain was also discovered in the UK but this from Oregon is an independent one. 

Stacia Wyman, an expert in computational genomics at the University of California, Berkeley stated:

“We’re at the point where B.1.1.7 is just being introduced in the USA”

“As it evolves, and as it slowly becomes the dominant thing, it could accumulate more mutations.”

But it is important to continue with the precautions. Stacia adds:

“People need to not freak out but to continue to be vigilant,"

“We can’t let down our guard yet while there’s still these more transmissible variants circulating.”


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

The highly controversial company of India: Patanjali! Know about its owners and the various cases against it for land encroachment, misleading advertisements, fake medicinal claims, and substandard products!

-
Image
 Patanjali is an Indian consumer goods company that is based in Hardiwar. It was started in the year 2006 by Ramdev and Balkrishna but it got a boost after the pro-Hindu nationalist party of BJP came to power in India in 2014. It is a manufacturer and packager of natural and herbal products. Its registered office is in Delhi and the industry is in Haridwar in Uttarakhand. But since its inception, it has been embroiled in a number of controversies about its land encroachment and grabs, its closeness to the BJP party and the favors it gets from them, and also about the quality of its products. Several bans have been imposed on its products in Indian states and Nepal. About Patanjali The company came to birth in 2006 and is owned by Balkrishna and Baba Ramdev. Ramdev himself is a school dropout. While Balkrishna claims to have high school and Sanskrit degrees of Sampurnanand Sanskrit University but it is alleged that these degrees do not exist on records of the University. The company
Read more