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

Valneva vaccine from France : The new variant proof coronavirus vaccine

-

 French company,  Valneva is making a coronavirus vaccine that is in phase 3 clinical trials now. It claims that it is variantproof and will get against all mutant strains of the covid vaccine. This news is heartening and need of the hour. Because mutant variants of the deadly virus have emerged and could pose a threat of creating more trouble for the world. Since December 2019, the infection originated in Wuhan in China and has spread to the world like a wild fire causing a lot of morbidities and mortality. If a vaccine acts also against the new variant forms of the vaccine, it is a welcome step towards control of the virus. 

Valneva vaccine (Source: The Conversation) 

Also read on Failures of Modi government! 

Covid pandemic and its wrath 

The coronavirus that was first reported from Wuhan in China took the world by storm. It spread via the air and land route and no country was spared by it. The first wave seemed to subside but the second wave was bad. People are still dealing with it. The virus has mutated multiple types and the UK, Brazil, and South Africa variants of the virus emerged. These came to India and there double and triple mutants emerged that have cost a lot of human life losses. These variants are more faster transmissible and more deadly. It is affecting the young people more and causing them to require hospitalization and oxygen need more and faster. The pandemic in India seems uncontrollable and its peak is yet to come. 

In the midst of all this comes the news of Valneva vaccine from a French vaccine maker. 

What is Valneva vaccine? 

Valneva vaccine is being developed by a different method. It is also called VLA2001. Here the whole virus is used but after it has been deactivated. Thus it is a killed virus similar to the inactivated polio virus (Salk). Beta-propiolactone or BPL is the chemical used to kill the virus. This is further purified and added with an adjuvant to amplify the immune response. 

Thus it can induce an immune response to not only the spike proteins of the virus but to many other viral antigens. Thus it is more efficient and protective. 

Besides, even if the virus mutates, the vaccine can synthesize antibodies against the antigen that has not mutated and hence can protect against even the variant vaccine. This is an assumption and hopefully should be right. But one cannot be sure until the ongoing clinical trials have also shown this to be true. 

The developed countries have shown a great interest in this vaccine and UK has allowed the clinical trials of this vaccine in its country. The results of the trials would be out in autumn this year. We hope that it is effective against the variant covid in clinical trials. 

Besides, safety is also a parameter to be tested. Considering its multiple antigens, more adverse effects are expected. But attempts to minimize it at the development stage are being done. These would be compared against the Astrazeneca covid vaccine. Additionally, it would be better if the vaccine undergoes trials in countries with a number of cases with this mutated covid virus. 

More on the vaccine schedule 

The vaccine is to be administered as two shots. And it can be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius. Europe,  the UK, and Australia have already ordered ample number of vials of the vaccine for procurement for trials as well as later after approval for use on the masses. Moderna and Novavax companies are already reformulating their covid vaccine so that it is successful also against the variant coronavirus. 

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