Sudhir Ahluwalia's Blog, page 21

Are governments distorting the food market deliberately now as is claimed by the New York Times

Ukraine and Russia were major producers and exporters of cereals. It has caused a reduction in available food in the market.
Before the war, the available supply was outstripping demand. Prices of agricultural commodities like cereals often dropped to unsustainably low levels causing farmer distress in food-producing countries.
Countries like India, where food production and food prices were below the market price, are now finding the global food market viable. It has resulted in additional supplies entering the market. Importers of food come from food-deficit countries of North Africa and the Middle East and are now constrained to offer higher prices.
What we are seeing today is a play of market forces. The role of governments in an open market can, at best, be marginal. They can influence the market through tariffs and imposts. While they do this, they have to ensure that the actions are compliant with the WTO norms, which favor open and free trade.
While food importers have a downside, it is a major relief for millions of food-producing farmers worldwide who are now finding agriculture profitable.

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What fats are good and bad for our health?

While all fats, when consumed in excess, will contribute to weight gain, unsaturated fats, when taken in moderation, help bring down blood cholesterol levels as they replace harmful saturated fats.

Unsaturated fats stay liquid at room temperatures. Some examples of food where these are found in high concentrations are olive, peanut, and canola oils, avocados, nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, and pumpkin and sesame seeds. These are examples of foods that are rich in monounsaturated fats.

The sources where polyunsaturated fats are found in high concentration include – sunflower, corn, soybean, flaxseed oils, walnuts, fish, and canola oil (this has both mono and polyunsaturated fat). Omega 3 is unsaturated fat. While fish is a good source of this type of fat, these are also found in flax seeds, walnuts, canola oil, and soybean oil.

The American Heart Association suggests that 8 to 10% of daily calories should come from polyunsaturated fats. Mediterranean diet is composed of an abundance of plant foods, fresh fruit, and olive oil as the principal source of fat, dairy products, fish, and poultry which is low in saturated fats (7-8%). The total fat of this food ranges between 25 to 35%. It is an example of healthy food (Willet et al., 1995).

A good diet should decrease saturated fat consumption and reduce blood cholesterol by consuming more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and poultry and less red meat. This diet will protect the body from cardiovascular diseases (Krish-Etherton et al., 2001; Hu., 2003).

Polyunsaturated margarine with plant-based phytosterols was seen to reduce cholesterol absorption in the gut and lower blood cholesterol levels. It reduces heart disease risk by up to 25% (Law, 2000).

Monounsaturated fatty acids found in plant oils like rapeseed or olive oil positively impact the blood lipid profile. These favorably influence the metabolism of diabetics too. Suppose the fatty acid composition of the diet is optimized. In that case, even a total dietary fat content of 35% of total energy intake (at the top end of the recommended intake of energy from fats) continues to have a protective effect. In such cases, a higher level of physical activity is recommended. This diet is largely plant-based (Wahrburg, 2004).

When choosing the type of fat that we should consume in our diet, it is best to avoid trans-fatty acids or trans fats. Heating liquid vegetable oils make trans fats in the presence of hydrogen gas and a catalyst. This process is called hydrogenation. Partial hydrogenation makes the oil more stable and less likely to turn rancid. Oil is converted into a solid and functions more like margarine or shortening.

Partially hydrogenated oils can withstand repeated heating. These do not break down and so are ideal for frying fast foods. Trans fats are also found naturally in beef fat and dairy fat. Trans fats raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol. These are particularly bad for the heart and blood vessels and generally are bad for our health.

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Why does a company need to set sustainability goals?

We need goals that we target to achieve. The journey towards a goal could contain multiple targets. UN Development Program (UNDP) has set sustainable development goals for the planet. These aim to end poverty, establish peace and harmony and protect the earth. Seventeen goals are defined to achieve these UNDP objectives.
Goals for a company, on the other hand, could be different. A company may seek to achieve the objective of sustainable development by setting goals to reduce carbon emissions. Another target could be to achieve gender equity in the board and the company. There could be a target to achieve the goal of equality of opportunity irrespective of race and religion.
Each of these targets will have a measure against which we monitor the organization’s performance to achieve the target and reach the goal.
Why do companies set goals for sustainable development? The customers are demanding that there should be a sustained global effort to reverse global warming. In response to the customer demand, companies set targets to reduce carbon emissions in their internal operations and the operations of their partners.
As a company progresses towards achieving its goals, customers note that this is a company working towards fulfilling its desire. They then view products and services offered by that company favorably compared to competitors.

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Is custard apple rich in antioxidants and can help treat cancer?

Custard apple is a hybrid between Annona cherimola and Annona squamosa plants. The Annona spp., including A. squamosa, A. muricata, and A. cherimola, contain acetogenin alkaloid compounds with anticancer properties.

Once such alkaloid, bulatacin, was shown to possess antitumor potential against cancerous liver tumors (Chih et al., 2001). Annona muricata leaves destroy colon cancer cells (Moghadamtousi et al., 2014). Acetogenins were also reported to eliminate human hepatoma cell lines (Liaw et al., 2002).

The fruit contains small amounts of neurotoxic alkaloids, and consuming large quantities of the fruit could cause Parkinson-like symptoms (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 2011; Champy et al., 2005).

Plants are often the starting research point in a drug discovery process. The identification of molecules with medicinal properties should not be taken that consumption of that plant will help treat a patient. Molecules need to be tested for safety, efficacy, and side effects.

In most cases, the concentration of a bioactive compound in a plant is not adequate to cause any meaningful impact on a health condition.

Take the information on the medicinal property of an individual plant for knowledge. Alternate medicines should only be consumed if tested and approved by a credible regulator. Most herbal medicine recommendations have not been adequately tested and can cause more harm than good.

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How can digital transformation be effectively implemented in the apparent industry?

The purpose of business transformation is to increase the competitive advantage of your enterprise’s products or services. The decision to go for digital transformation in a business is to improve operational efficiency. Digital transformation is a subset or a component of business transformation.
The apparel industry value chain will include design, production, distribution, sales, and marketing. Then we have the supporting components like accounting and human resource management. Therefore, the first step in the digital transformation process for your industry will be to map its value chain.
It is best to map your company on a positioning map to see where you are positioned vis your competitors.
The third step should be to create an activity map of your value chain and compare it with your closest competitors’ value chain’s activity map.
These three tasks and maps will give you a clear view of activities that need to be automated to provide you with a competitive advantage. Once this determination is made, you can go to an IT vendor asking him to present options for automating these activities.
Most IT service providers present themselves as experts in digital transformation. It includes the top of the line companies. Most of these companies are just experts in the deployment of automation tools.
Please understand the imperative of business transformation before spending top dollars on implementing a set of digital tools packed with digital transformation.
Good luck.

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Does onion regulate blood sugar and reduce cancer risk?

In traditional Chinese medicine, onions are said to enhance chi or energy. They induce urination and perspiration. It is recommended for consumption when the weather is cold. Mixed with garlic and sugar, onion is said to lessen respiratory stress caused by cold weather.

Herbal medicine systems of both China and India regard onion as beneficial to the cardiovascular system. It helps reduce blood platelet aggregation and cholesterol levels. WHO (World Health Organization) supports onions to treat appetite loss and prevent atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries).

The anti-cancer property of onion has been studied by Votto et al. (2010). Their experiments showed that cell death occurs when exposed to onion extract due to damage caused to the DNA.

The plant is rich in antioxidants, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds.

I have researched the major herbs used in Ayurveda and TCM to treat cancer. Onion is not listed as an anticancer herb in these formulations.

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Does Tibetan medicine cure cancer?

As we see today, Tibetan medicine is based on the Four Tantras text. Gyueshi (Four Tantras) is the fundamental text of Tibetan medicine. The Four Tantras incorporate medical knowledge of Ayurveda, Chinese, and Greek medicines. This knowledge gathered from outside was integrated with existing indigenous knowledge based on shamanic practices.
Tibetan medicine has four types of therapies. These are—diet, behavior, treatment, and external therapies.
Wrong diet and lifestyle are at the root of all diseases. The focus is on prevention. Recommendations to correct diet imbalances are one of the first recommendations made. Diet regimes are prescribed based on observed symptoms, history, age, season, and geographic location of an individual. Recommendations are personalized. Diet is aligned to a patient’s symptoms.
Behavior therapy includes psychospiritual interventions. The treatment entails observing five stages of meditation. Meditation is recommended as an adjunct treatment for cancer patients. Scientific studies have presented empirical evidence that meditation helps provide relief to patients.
Tibetan medicine suggests alternative treatment when patients do not respond to behavior, nutrition, and herbal therapy. The therapy follows three substages:
1. Detoxication
2. Medicated massage, fomentation, and moxibustion with or without acupuncture
3. Surgery
The herbal combinations recommended for cancer patients amalgamate herbs recommended in Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
During my research on the medicinal properties of individual constituent herbs, I observed that scientific evidence supporting the anti-cancer properties of these herbs is slim.

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Medicinal properties of coriander

Traditionally, coriander is used to prepare many household medicines to treat colds, fever, nausea, vomiting, indigestion, worms, rheumatism, epilepsy, anxiety, insomnia, and joint pain. In India, the fruits are used as carminative, diuretic, tonic, and stomachic, as well as antibilious, refrigerant, and aphrodisiac.
Many coriander’s healing properties are attributed to phytonutrients and bioactive compounds (Rajeshwari et al., 2011). These include aliphatic lactones, terpenes, glycerides, anthraquinones, sterols, and essential oils. It can also reduce lipid levels, perhaps because of its ability to increase bile synthesis. In animal trials, the species has shown anti-arthritic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anxiolytic, anticonvulsive, antidepressant, and neuroprotective properties.
The herb may help prevent oxidative stress-related diseases and enhance the effectiveness of conventional treatments (Tang et al., 2013).
The essential oil showed pronounced antibacterial and antifungal activity against Gram-positive (S. aureus, Bacillus spp.) and Gram-negative (E. coli, S. typhi, K. pneumonia, P. mirabilis) bacteria, and the pathogenic fungus C. albicans (Matasyoh et al., 2009)

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Why should ESG be part of a business strategy?

A business succeeds when customers patronize it. It is therefore imperative for a company to have customer-focused strategies.
Climate change is now recognized as one of the most serious crises that the world has faced since its existence. According to Inter-Governmental Panel for Climate Change projections, we will see global average temperatures 2.6 to 4.8 degrees Celsius higher than the present by this century. Sea levels will also be 0.45 to 0.82 meters higher than today.
Climate change is impacting human existence like never before. Agriculture, for instance, is extremely vulnerable to increasing temperatures, weather variability, shifting agroecosystem boundaries, invasive crops and pests, and more frequent extreme weather events.
These weather events will reduce crop yields, harm the nutritional quality of major cereals, and lower livestock productivity.
As customers worldwide are becoming more aware of the impact of climate change on their lives, they want companies, governments, and others to reduce their carbon footprint in their operations.
Customer pressure has got to investors who have mainstreamed climate risks into their lending models. A business is now obliged to mainstream climate-friendly practices into their operations. Capital is now becoming green. You will not be able to secure capital if you ignore these facts.
Customers also want businesses to be gender-sensitive and have equitable racial, religious, and gender policies.
Ethical governance is also now an imperative. Customers are shunning companies with an honest questionable record of governance.
ESG is a business imperative. A company ignores it at its peril.

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What are the benefits of saffron for women?

Saffron is a perennial herb unknown in the wild and has been cultivated for more than 3,000 years. It is believed to be a mutant of the wild C. cartwrightianus of the Iridaceae family. Its key constituents are safranal, crocin, carotenoids, glycoside forms, terpene derivatives, anthocyanins, flavonoids, the vitamins riboflavin and thiamine, and amino acids, proteins, and starch.
Saffron was also one of the Greco-Roman times’ most valued and most expensive aromatic spices. It was associated with fertility and romance, and nobles used it to perfume clothes and baths. Homer states that Greek gods Zeus and Jupiter lay on a bed of saffron to enhance amorous emotions.
Traditionally, the species is used for stomach cramps, flatulence, respiratory ailments, blood disorders, heart diseases, and an aphrodisiac. It is a folk remedy for headaches and colds and has antidiarrheal and antidysentery properties. It is useful in treating scanty menstruation and poor seminal mobility.
Modaghegh et al. (2008) conducted trials on a sample of 10 people who were administered saffron tablets and showed a reduction in both high systolic and arterial blood pressure.
Crocus sativus (common name saffron) may alleviate symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, according to a 2008 study published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. However, because it is used to break blood clots, those on blood-thinning medications, or women who experience heavy menstruation, should avoid saffron altogether.

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