Numerous studies show that tea leaves contain a high amount of polyphenols, which are a type of antioxidant, and that regular consumption of about five cups of tea per day contributes to keeping a high level of them in the bloodstream. The antioxidants work to neutralize free radicals. The free radicals are oxidizing molecules which naturally and harmlessly exist within the human body. However, they accumulate as a result of physiological processes such as metabolism, and are furthermore found in environmental factors such as polluted air, poisonous waste and cigarette smoke.

The accumulated free radicals are an encumbrance upon the immune system as they attack the body tissues and harm cells thus leading to the development of chronic diseases and they are also linked to the aging processes.

A study led in Japan in which 9,000 women participated, shows that women who drank less than 5 cups of tea per day were twice as prone to suffer strokes. The phenols, found in the tea, prevent the oxidization of the cholesterol, which may cause damage to the blood vessels.

The health benefits of green tea have been found and reported in countless research papers. Among other things, green tea was found to lower the risk of cancer, arteriosclerosis, infective intestine diseases and liver infections; likewise, green tea helps lower cholesterol, assists with weight loss and strengthens cognitive abilities.

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The Expert’s Thought: Numerous health benefits have been attributed to tea since time immemorial. In folk medicine, the health benefits of tea were already recognized 5000 years ago and it was used as a treatment for infectious diseases, colds, and also as an aid to the digestive and nervous systems.

Get Your Nutrition Facts Straight

The Nutrition Facts food label gives you information about whichnutrients (say: nu-tree-ents) are in the food. Your body needs the right combination of nutrients, such as vitamins, to work properly and grow. The Nutrition Facts food label is printed somewhere on the outside of packaged food, and you usually don’t have to look hard to find it. Fresh food that doesn’t come prepackaged sometimes has nutrition facts, too.

Most nutrients are measured ingrams, also written as g. Some nutrients are measured in milligrams, or mg. Milligrams are very tiny — there are 1,000 milligrams in 1 gram.

Other information on the label is given in percentages. Food contains fat, protein, carbohydrates, and fiber. Food also contains vitamins, such as A and C, and minerals, such as calcium and iron. Nutrition specialists know how much of each one kids and adults should get every day to have a healthy diet. The percent daily value on a food label tells you how this food can help someone meet these daily goals.

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The Expert’s Thought: Food Label is a face of any Food Product and hence it has to have all information backed with scientific data. The Food Label is important aspect to determine the safety of the given product.

Over 600 hotel and restaurant owners have applied at the FDA office for the mandatory food licence after the recent change in rules. The application deadline is November 30. After December 31, hotel owners who have not renewed their licence or converted to the requirements of the new Food Safety Standard Authority of India Act from the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act will have their licence cancelled for three months. Only after these three months will they be able to register for a fresh licence. Before the change in rules, the PMC used to grant the food licence.

“We have received nearly 614 forms for the licence and it’s mandatory for us to give the food licence within two months of accepting the forms,” Assistant Commissioner of FDA Chandrakant Salunke said.

The officer added that after the verification of various documents submitted by the hotel owners, the FDA will give them the licence in two months.

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The Expert’s Thought: Its a great move in Indian Food Industry. I think this would bring greater visibility to Food law and hence enhance the Safety norms in the Country.

Lovell Khanna, CEO of Mansha International, Singapore, talks about the benefits of going hands-free!

What prompted Mansha to set up its India operations?
Mansha is a socio-entrepreneurial company that is dedicated to improving the hygiene and health standards of our society. As you might be aware, India has a huge issue in personal hygiene and sanitation. According to UNICEF, more than 1,000 children die of diarrhea in India every day. The primary cause of this is the practice of using hands to clean after toilet. We don’t realise that the very act of touching excreta exposes us to some of the most dreaded diseases on earth including jaundice, typhoid, cholera, diarrhea, gastroenteritis, etc.

You mentioned that use of soap is not sufficient. Why?
As per medical research, soap only gets rid of 45% of germs. Many Indians use bar soap which is even worse, since bar soaps are sticky and easily get contaminated with Gram-negative bacteria like e-coli, salmonella etc. Imagine a mother cleaning her hands with a bar soap and then asking her child to use the same soap to clean his/her hands before eating.

What about liquid soaps?
Liquid soaps are a shade better than bar soaps, but they still don’t clean more than 50% of the germs that stay below your nails and inside your skin pores. It’s because of these issues with soap that hospitals today have switched from soap to alcohol scrubs.

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The Expert’s Thought: Hand washing is an important aspect of Hygiene. Its is recommended to wash hands for at-least 20 secs. Regular hand-washing keeps hand germ free.

Seven colleges, 14,000 students, one huge canteen.

Mind-boggling when one does the math. But the canteen operators at the Vidya Prasark Mandal’s educational complex in Thane (W) claim that they have it well under control without scrimping on the quality of food and hygiene measures.

Popularly known as the Thana College, the complex has students from across the board—arts, science, commerce, law, polytechnic and languages. A month ago, two staff members from the canteen attended our workshop at the Somaiya College. We check if they took back any lesson. The canteen, which serves 300 students at a time, has an edge over several colleges in Mumbai with the greenery it is set in. With a big, clean serving platform — made of stainless steel, it looks all set to attend to a large number of students at a time. All food items are covered with lids and sport price tags. The kitchen has a huge exhaust system, with clean utensils and food ingredients of good quality.

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The Expert’s Thought: Hygiene is an important aspect of Food Safety. Good Hygiene ensures better health and less instances of Food Poisoning.

How do you protect strawberries from an early frost? Some scientists choose to insert a gene from an arctic flounder so the strawberries tolerate the cold, just like the fish. That may sound a bit strange to you, and mounting evidence indicates that tinkering with nature like this might even prove harmful.

It’s not just about strawberries either. The “flounderberry” is still lab research, but there are quite a few genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that are already out on the market, on shelves, and in our homes. According to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, more than three quarters of all processed foods on American grocery store shelves contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients. That means that these ingredients were created through processes that combine the genetic building blocks of different species to produce new foods. In January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) added GM sugar beets, a new form of GM corn and GM alfalfa to the list of GM crops that can be grown and used in food nationwide.

For shoppers, it can be hard to identify foods with GM ingredients since manufacturers aren’t required to label GM foods. This isn’t the case in Japan, Australia and Europe, where GM labeling is mandatory.

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The Expert’s Thought: Genetically Modified Foods (GM) foods is derived from genetically Modified Organisms. There always have been a controversy with the quality of the product and hence it has to be out-looked when introduced in the market.

For most of us, stress and food go hand-in-hand. Food can give us the feelings of power, control and satisfaction that we need in stressful situations. It’s no surprise that when our stress levels go up our resistance to ‘comfort’ foods goes down.

This isn’t always a bad thing — our favorite foods actually can reduce our stress levels. But moderation is key.

Giving your body the nutrition it needs is a positive step you can take every day toward combating stress. With the correct nutrition, you are better prepared to face the challenges of the day.

Adrenaline is produced during times of intense stress. That gives you a burst of energy, but your blood-sugar level drops after the crisis is past. Sustaining food is needed to replenish it. Certain foods increase the physical stress on your body by making digestion more difficult, or by denying the brain essential nutrients. Stress itself can cause bad digestion. Drinks can have just as great an effect — caffeine and alcohol both put a considerable strain on the body.

With a sensible diet it’s possible to reduce the effects of stress, avoid some common problems, and protect your health.

SOURCE: Every Day Health.

The Expert’s Thought: Stress is regarded as Silent Killer and it can cause immense pressure on Subject’s Psychological and Physical behavior. Stress Management is an Important way to cope with it.

Chocolate craving is very common, but can we actually be addicted to it? Can these powerful urges to eat truly be classed as an addiction?

We generally crave foods due to external prompts and our emotional state, rather than actual hunger. We tend to be bored, anxious, or depressed immediately before experiencing cravings, so one way of explaining cravings is self-medication for feeling miserable.

Chocolate is the most frequently craved food in women, and many women describe themselves as ‘chocoholics.’ Chocoholics insist that it is habit-forming, that it produces an instant feeling of well-being, and even that abstinence leads to withdrawal symptoms.

When we eat sweet and high-fat foods, including chocolate, serotonin is released, making us feel happier. This partly explains the cravings common in seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and pre-menstrual syndrome.

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The Expert’s Thought: Chocolate is anyone’s all time favorite food. People cannot just say “NO” when they are about to consume Chocolate or Choco- Products. Read the Article to find out how does one gets addicted to Chocolate !!

The basis of compulsive eating is emotional and people really need to learn to listen to their hungers. It’s important for them to eat when they’re hungry, to stop when they’ve had enough, and to deal with the emotional conflicts they express by eating.

Although most of us are afraid that if we don’t have a step-by-step program to tell us what, when, and how much to eat, we will never make any changes, the most important element in change is self-trust. The willingness to listen to the voice that wants to care for us, not destroy us.

If you have been following programs that tell you what and how much to eat, it may be overwhelming to be told that if you listen to your body, it will guide you in making healthy choices. The Eating Guidelines are just that — guidelines, not rules with which to punish yourself — they are suggestions that can be useful when making a commitment to be conscious when you eat.

Eating Guidelines

1. Eat when you are hungry.
2. Eat sitting down in a calm environment. This does not include the car.
3. Eat without distractions. Distractions include radio, television, newspapers, books, intense or anxiety-producing conversations, and music.
4. Eat only what you want.
5. Eat until you are satisfied.
6. Eat (with the intention of being) in full view of others.
7. Eat with enjoyment, pleasure, and gusto.

Source: Everday Health

The Expert’s Thought: Overeating is a common problem is Developed countries and it is also taking a toll in developing countries. Overeating is directly related to obesity, many health problems such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disorders etc.

Who thinks much about dust or the health risks associated with breathing it? It is a topic most of us don’t consider as seriously as we should. Sure, we occasionally here a news story about the ill effects but with so much going on, its an easy topic to ignore.

The average person takes about 20 breaths per minute, which works out to almost 30,000 breaths per day. Clearly this is an activity which we spend considerable time, if not effort. Each one of those breaths contain dust, bacteria, germs, soot, fumes, pollen and many other harmful material. It is true that our bodies have some built in filtration functions but why overtax the body? Estimates vary widely but some suggest interior air can be 10 or more times as polluted as outside air. If the man made indoor pollution is that concentrated should we really believe our bodies were designed for that? Not likely.

We humans live in closer proximity to each other than ever before. That proximity intensifies the airborne particles from vehicles, other people, animals, manufacturing and other sources. Some well known airborne diseases are influenza, diphtheria, hay fever, tuberculosis, colds, viruses, pneumonia, scarlet fever, measles, etc.

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The Expert’s Thought: Consumption of dust is an natural process during beathing. However, excessive level of certain toxic gases in body can lead to irritation, fatigue, allergies, asthma and auto-immune response.

As with any holiday food preparation, safe food handling and storage are important to keep your loved ones safe. Follow these helpful tips to prepare a safe holiday meal.

Handling and Thawing:  Always wash hands with warm water and soap for 15 seconds before and after handling the turkey.  Fresh turkeys need no thawing and are ready to cook.  Frozen turkeys can be purchased weeks in advance, but require several days for thawing before cooking.  If you are planning on purchasing a frozen turkey, first make sure there is sufficient space in your freezer for storage.

Never defrost turkey on the counter! A turkey can be thawed in the refrigerator or in cold water. The refrigerator method is the safest and will result in the best finished product. Leave the bird in the original packaging and place in a shallow pan and allow refrigerator thawing time at a rate of 4 to 5 pounds per 24 hours. To thaw in cold water, keep turkey in the original packaging, place in a clean and sanitized sink or pan and submerge in cold water. Change the cold water every 30 minutes. The turkey will take about 30 minutes per pound to thaw.

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The Expert’s Thought: Food Safety is an important issue  especially  in  mass  gathering, functions because any contamination in food can lead to mass Food Poisoning.

Pasteurization is a process that kills harmful bacteria by heating milk to a specific temperature for a set period of time. Some people continue to believe that pasteurization harms milk and that raw milk is a safe healthier alternative.

Raw milk can harbor dangerous microorganisms, such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria, that can pose serious health risks to you and your family.

Here are some common myths and proven facts about milk and pasteurization:

• Raw milk DOES NOT kill dangerous pathogens by itself.
• Pasteurizing milk DOES NOT cause lactose intolerance and allergic reactions. Both raw milk and pasteurized milk can cause allergic reactions in people sensitive to milk proteins.
• Pasteurization DOES NOT reduce milk’s nutritional value.
• Pasteurization DOES NOT mean that it is safe to leave milk out of the refrigerator for extended time,particularly after it has been opened.
• Pasteurization DOES kill harmful bacteria.
• Pasteurization DOES save lives.

[Source: Food Safety.gov]

The Expert’s Thought: Raw milk is the natural unaltered milk usually from cows, goats or sheep but in some countries it is camel or buffalo. Raw milk is not pasteurized, homogenized or frozen, nor has it been altered with additives, chemicals, light or homogenization.

Seafood is consumed in large quantities in Japan and other parts of Asia. Consequently they suffer far less of certain cancers and diseases and the link with seafood is confirmed. Here we tell you those benefits and why you should involve seafood into your diet.

1. Fish is your heart’s best friend.

Undeniably, fishes are exceptional low-fat food. The fats contained on fishes and fish oils are high in Omega-3 fatty acids. These are polyunsaturated fatty acids known to protect the body against heart diseases. These so called “good fats” also aids in lowering cholesterol, decreasing blood clotting factors, increasing beneficial relaxation in larger arteries and blood vessels, and decreasing inflammatory process in blood vessels.

2. One serving of fish two to three times per week keeps arthritis away

There have been clinical trials that have shown that one serving of fish two to three times a week can actually lessen arthritis symptoms by fighting inflammation, decreasing fatigue and reducing morning stiffness.

Read More: Fitness Begin.com

The Expert’s Thought: Seafood contains essential oils that are an important part of your diet. Oils provide the source of energy we need and they are also great flavor enhancers. More importantly, they are a source of significant fatty acids. They have indefinite Health Benefits.

Don’t let food poisoning spoil your holiday.

Food poisoning is an illness–usually mild but potentially serious for the very young, the very old and those in poor health–that most commonly results from poor food handling techniques, according to the Maryland Poison Center.

Food poisoning usually occurs two to six hours after eating the contaminated food and can include nausea, fever, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea. Symptoms may last from several hours to two or three days.

Experts at the Maryland Poison Center recommend these basic food safety preparation and storage practices to prevent food poisonings:

• Wash hands with soap and warm running water for at least 15 to 20 seconds before preparing any foods and especially after handling raw meat, poultry, fish or eggs.
• Keep preparation and storage areas clean; this includes countertops, stovetops and refrigerators.
• Wash utensils between each use. Never reuse utensils; this is a source of contamination.
• Do not defrost meat or poultry on the counter at room temperature; thaw it in the refrigerator or microwave.
• Use a meat thermometer to confirm that meat, pork and poultry are properly cooked.
• Do not prepare food if you are sick or have any type of nose or eye infection.
• Store raw food below cooked food in the refrigerator so raw food cannot drip into cooked food and contaminate it.
• Use separate cutting boards for meats, poultry and fish.

Source: Columbia Health

The Expert’s Thought:Food poisoning is a common, usually mild, but sometimes deadly illness. Toxic agents such as poisonous mushrooms. E.coli, Coliform, parasites, viruses lead to food poisoning. Proper storage and refrigeration of food help in the prevention of Food Poisoning.

Students of HR College are not ones to wash their hands of hygiene in the canteen and play the blame game. They know they have as much a role to play in maintaining it as canteen operators.

And so was born the college’s Rotaract Club’s own hygiene for kitchen initiative on campus. Leaflets on the dos and don’ts while maintaining canteen hygiene have been distributed by club members to canteen staff and students to make them aware of the importance of hygiene.

They haven’t stopped at that. The students have also given out hand gloves to food handlers at their canteen. The staff has also been told about important measures to maintain hygiene, like when they need to put on and take offthe gloves, their use and maintenance, and when to get a new pair.

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The Expert’s Thought: Hygiene plays an important role in maintaining the Healthy state of a well-being and hence everyone should take an active participation. Hygiene is not confined to any community or certain sets of people and should be duly complied by everyone.