No abstract

Diabetes becomes a real problem of public health in developing countries, where its prevalence is increasing steadily. Diabetes mellitus can be found in almost every population in the world. Since the Ayurvedic practice started in India, plants are being used in the cure of diseases. Although the Catharanthus roseus have been used for their alleged health benefits and avail their hypoglycemic effect, used as medicine by diabetics. Medicinal plants have rarely been incorporated in food preparations. To fill these lacunae, food products were prepared by using Catharanthus roseus (Sadabahar) fresh leaves with hypoglycemic properties. Commonly consumed recipes in India are prepared for diabetic patients and were developed at different levels at 3 g, 4 g, and 6 g per serving. Food product development and their acceptability appraisal through organoleptic evaluation were carried out by semitrained panel comprising 15 trained panelists from the department of Food Science and Nutrition, Banasthali University. Seven products were developed by incorporating Catharanthus roseus fresh leaves. Nine point hedonic scale was used as a medium to know about the product acceptability at various variances. All products are moderately acceptable at different concentrations except product fare “6 g” which was more acceptable than the standard. Among the three variations of incorporating the Catharanthus roseus (Sadabahar) Leaves, 3 g variation is more acceptable than other variations.

No abstract

All morphological physical features of human body change throughout one's life span and the rates of change are not constant. The maturity of the anthropometric characteristics varies among populations due to genetic make-up, environment and other concomitants. Generally, physical dimensions are at peak from age 20 to 35 years. In this stage a maximum level is attained by the physiological capacity of various systems. Physiological functions start to decline after 35 years at different rates in different people. There is continuous quantitative and qualitative reduction of skeletal muscle mass and fat redistribution in the body. As people aged abdominal fat also increased with age and it affect the women waist circumference, Waist-Hip circumference ratio these compositional changes increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension and different other health problems.

Heavy metals are among the contaminating agents of our food supply, and the main source of metals or the media through which living beings get exposed to various toxic metals is food and water. The concentration of heavy metals in plants is essential for good health and growth of human and animals but should be within permissible limits. Various natural and anthropogenic factors are responsible for excess metal concentration in crops. Dietary heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, mercury can be harmful to biota as their excessive accumulation in human body can lead to systematic health problems. Fruits and vegetables are main component in diet after cereals. Hence the present study aimed to determine Aluminium (Al), Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb) and Mercury (Hg) content in mostly consumed vegetables (onion, potato, taro root, spinach, taro root leaves, beans, jackfruit and pumpkin) and fruits (blackberry, mango and pears) during summers in Bareilly City, Uttar Pradesh. These food samples were collected from local vendors and shops from four different market sites of the city. The samples were analysed using atomic absorption spectrophotometer and the obtained results were compared with safe limits set by different national and international agencies. Based on the data we conclude that concentrations (mg/kg dry weight) of As, Pb and Hg for all samples and Al and Cd for most of the food stuffs were found exceeding the allowable limits causing potential health risk to consumers of present study area. Elevated levels of these metals in food stuffs might be due to various factors such as usage of industrial and disposal waste water for irrigation, municipal and urban runoff, fertilizers, pesticides, that contaminates the soil and hence crops absorb those metals. Some cultivation areas get exposed to atmospheric pollution found near highways, in form of metal containing aerosols. Other factors can be exposure to pollution during transportation and marketing. The prolonged consumption of unsafe concentration of metals is an alarming public health concerns, considering that metals can accumulate in organism and show negative effects by causing various disruptions of numerous biochemical processes and therefore leading to acute and chronic health outcomes. Such foodstuffs should be avoided in the diet and a regular monitoring is required to avoid the health risk among humans. Keywords: heavy metal, contamination, concentration, food sample, human, toxicity