Srijita, Author at Pinfaves

FSSAI sets nutritional benchmarks to fortify food items for PDS, midday meals

January 13, 2017 Srijitabenchmarks, Food., for, Fortify, FSSAI, items, meals, midday, nutritional, PDS, sets, to

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has released benchmarks to fortify the nutritional quality of food items used in social sector programmes such as ICDS, PDS and midday meals, such as rice, wheat flour, milk, edible oil and salt.Food fortification helps combat malnutrition through staple food items. The government is trying to push such products through government schemes to counter problems like stunting, overweight and anaemia, which are the major causes of maternal and child deaths. The FSSAI standards detail specific measurements for fortification. For instance, any…

How brain can be tricked to cure mental maladies

January 13, 2017 Srijitabe, Brain, Can, cure, How, maladies, mental, to, tricked

When neuroscientist V S Ramachandran came up with a cardboard box and mirror to trick the brain into `seeing’ a limb that didn’t exist in the late 1990s, he created quite a stir in the scientific community . Two decades on, he has initiated another trial on the same principle of illusion -only this time the brain itself plays the role of a mirror. Taking forward the theory that some brain cells in people mirror a reaction they are just witness to but not part of, Ramachandran and his team…

Can’t breathe after Chinese food? It might be the MSG

January 13, 2017 SrijitaAfter, be, Breathe, Can't, Chinese, Food., It, Might, MSG, The

Can’t breathe after Chinese food? It mightbe the MSG A very satisfying feast of kung pao chicken, sweet-sour pork or just about any Chinese dish could, at times, be accompanied with a bout of headache, giddiness or rashes. It’s aptly called the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, but a doctor from Mahad, a four-hour drive from Mumbai, recently found out that the presence of ajinomoto salt -better known as mono sodium glutamate or MSG -in Chinese food could even lead to life-threatening swelling of tissues. A 23-year-old who had eaten triple fried…

You can teach yourself to hate pizza and chocolate

January 13, 2017 Srijitaand, Can, Chocolate, Hate, pizza, teach, to, You, yourself

You can teach yourself to hate pizza and chocolate Imagine that as soon as a piece of chocolate melts and flows down your throat, you start feeling nauseous, lightheaded, and run to throw up inside the toilet bowl.The goal is to make you ill every time you think about or encounter the problem food. Will it work? It is the basis of the “false memory diet” pioneered by Elizabeth Loftus and her colleague Daniel Bernstein.The duo planted food aversions in peoples’ minds by playing a memory game with more steps…

Can Moderate Screen Time Increase Teenagers’ Well-Being?

January 13, 2017 SrijitaCan, Increase, Moderate, screen, teenagers, Time, Well-Being?

Spending hours in front of digital screen may be harmful for adolescents. However, moderate use may not harm but increase their well-being, researchers say. “Digital screens are now an inextricable part of modern childhood. Our findings suggest that adolescents’ moderate screen use has no detectable link to well-being and levels of engagement above these points are modestly correlated with well-being,” said lead researcher Andrew Przybylski, psychological scientist at the University of Oxford. The findings showed that as a result of a digital “sweet spot” between low and high technology use,…

Your Smartwatch Can Flag Your Sickness

January 13, 2017 SrijitaCan, Flag, sickness, Smartwatch, Your

Your smartwatch may not only measure your steps and physiological parameters but also detect when you are falling sick, a new study has revealed. Researchers from the Stanford University found that smartwatches and other personal biosensor devices can help detect when people have cold and even signal the onset of complex conditions like Lyme disease and diabetes. “We want to tell when people are healthy and also catch illnesses at their earliest stages,” said Michael Snyder, Professor at the Stanford University, US. The study collected a myriad of measurements from…