Young adult women in Delhi seem to rely on preferences of their families, habits and perceptions established in childhood, convenience, and food safety and health when making choices about food. These aspects of decision-making should be targeted in future interventions aimed at improving dietary intake in this population.

Recent data on salt intake levels in India show consumption is around 11 g per day, higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended intake of 5 g per day. However, high-quality data on sources of salt in diets to inform a salt reduction strategy are mostly absent. A cross-sectional survey of 1283 participants was undertaken in rural, urban, and slum areas in North (n = 526) and South (n = 757) India using an age-, area-, and sex-stratified sampling strategy. Data from two 24-h dietary recall surveys were transcribed into a purpose-built nutrient database. Weighted salt intake was estimated from the average of the two recall surveys, and major contributors to salt intake were identified. Added salt contributed the most to total salt intake, with proportions of 87.7% in South India and 83.5% in North India (p < 0.001). The main food sources of salt in the south were from meat, poultry, and eggs (6.3%), followed by dairy and dairy products (2.6%), and fish and seafood (1.6%). In the north, the main sources were dairy and dairy products (6.4%), followed by bread and bakery products (3.3%), and fruits and vegetables (2.1%). Salt intake in India is high, and this research confirms it comes mainly from added salt. Urgent action is needed to implement a program to achieve the WHO salt reduction target of a 30% reduction by 2025. The data here suggest the focus needs to be on changing consumer behavior combined with low sodium, salt substitution.

Background: In spite of major technological advances in conventional therapies, cancer continues to remain the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Phytochemicals are gradually emerging as a rich source of effective but safer agents against many life-threatening diseases. Methods: Various phytochemicals with reported anticancer activity have been simply categorized into major phytoconstituents- alkaloids, polyphenols, saponins, tannins and terpenoids. Results: The adverse effects associated with currently available anticancer medications may be overcome by using plant-derived compounds either alone or in combination. Exploration of plant kingdom may provide new leads for the accelerated development of new anticancer agents. Conclusion: Although numerous potent synthetic drugs have been introduced for cancer chemotherapy, yet their serious toxicity concerns to normal cells apart from drug resistance have emerged as the major obstacles for their clinical utility over a prolonged duration of time. Current status and potential of phytochemicals and their derivatives in cancer therapy have been briefly reviewed in the present manuscript.

Aim: To refine and contextually adapt a postpartum lifestyle intervention for prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.Materials and Methods: In-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with women with current diagnosis of GDM, and health care professionals involved in their management, to understand relevant local contextual factors for intervention optimization and implementation. This paper describes facilitators and barriers as well as feedback from participants on how to improve the proposed intervention. These factors were grouped and interpreted along the axes of the three main determinants of behavior–capability, opportunity, and motivation. IDIs and FGDs were digitally recorded, transcribed, and translated. Data-driven inductive thematic analysis was undertaken to identify and analyze patterns and themes.Results: Two interrelated themes emerged from the IDIs and FGDs: (i) The lifestyle intervention was acceptable and considered to have the potential to improve the existing model of care for women with GDM; and (ii) Certain barriers such as reduced priority of self-care, and adverse societal influences postpartum need to be addressed for the improvement of GDM care. Based on the feedback, the intervention was optimized by including messages for family members in the content of the intervention, providing options for both text and voice messages as reminders, and finalizing the format of the intervention session delivery.Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of contextual factors in influencing postpartum care and support for women diagnosed with GDM in three South Asian countries. It indicates that although provision of postpartum care is complex, a group lifestyle intervention program is highly acceptable to women with GDM, as well as to health care professionals, at urban hospitals.