A silent killer

Adulteration of food items, an illegal and unethical exercise practised in Pakistan, cheats consumers and poses a serious risk to health. Inexpensive products and waste materials, injurious to health, are apparently added in loose spices to add weight and increase profits for the merchants, as all food laws do not withstand

By Rutaba Ahmed

Over the years there has been a steady rise in the number of people suffering from food related ailments that include stomach ache, gastroenteritis, diarrhoea and others like rash and nausea. While this largely happens after food is consumed outside the home, the number of cases resulting from even home cooked food is quite large. There is no detailed study to show exactly what all causes these disorders, but certainly adulterated or contaminated spices used in cooking food is a leading cause.

Inexpensive and often also waste materials such as sawdust are apparently added in loose spices to add weight and increase profits for the merchants, all food laws notwithstanding. Some people prefer to buy loose spices from the open market, as a cost saving, without realising the serious health hazards. The modest saving in buying loose spices comes with a cost - sometimes a valuable life. The lack of awareness amongst consumers regarding the practice of adulteration of spices and their harmful effects on health is thus a grave cause for concern that needs to be addressed strongly by consumer organisations, the medical profession and regulatory agencies.

Adulteration of food items, an illegal and unethical practice, which cheats the consumer and poses a serious risk to health, is unfortunately common in Pakistan. Adulteration in food is normally present in its most crude form; prohibited substances are either added or partly or wholly substituted. In India and Pakistan normally this is done either for financial gain or it is due to negligence and lack of a proper hygienic system of processing, storing, transportation and marketing of food products. This practice of mixing toxic substances in food items and spices is quite common in developing countries.

A research was done in India regarding adulterations in food items. The study was carried out on 60 women consumers selected from three different localities in India, to gauge their knowledge regarding adulteration and detecting adulterants in commonly used food items. The study found that the main adulterant in turmeric powder was chalk powder (43.3 percent), chilli powder had artificial colours (100.0 percent), essential oils were removed from cardamom (Elaichi) (36.6 percent), and chalk powder was present in sugar (36.6 percent).

Chillies are considered to be the universal spice of Pakistan. These are used in flavouring foods and in marinades for meat and prawns before barbecuing or grilling. Pakistani red chillies, grown in Sindh, are very hot and used for their taste, colour and aroma. Our homeland has not been able to capture the untapped potential of the international market for red chillies as the growers still follow conservative techniques that do not meet with international standards of production. Red chilli powder in Pakistan at times contains Sudan-1 dye (oil soluble), water soluble coal tar colours, talc powder, saw dust, brick powder, grit, sand, dirt, filth etc. 'Sudan-1', a dye used in textile and leather industries for colouring fabric and leather goods, is extensively being used by chilli merchants in Pakistan. These adulterants are carcinogenic and harmful to health.

A spice merchant at an open market selling loose spices revealed during an interview that raw and powdered turmeric (haldi) powder, coriander (dhania), black pepper, and ginger (adrak) are all mixed with chemicals. "Pure and unadulterated turmeric is rather whitish in colour while the yellow turmeric is 100 percent coloured with yellow dye," said the spice merchant.

Turmeric (haldi) is a basic ingredient of all our Pakistani cooking, and is mainly used for yellow colour in Pakistani food. It is often adulterated with lead chromate, metanil yellow, chalk powder or yellow soap stone powder. These adulterants can cause anaemia, paralyses, mental retardation, brain damage in children, and abortion in pregnant women. Metanil yellow dye, a prohibited toxic colorant, is used mostly to colour flour (besan) or gram flour, pulses and miscellaneous prepared foods and sweetmeats to get that attractive deep yellow colour. Food grade colours are available in the market but are more costly. Traders take advantage of the carelessness of the law enforcing authorities and substitute these with cheap and non-permissible dyes and colours to save cost.

Various spices such as black pepper, coriander, ginger etc are mixed with harmful quantities of colouring agents, which can cause mental retardation, cancer and other toxic effects on health. Clove (laung), a spice typically used in Pakistani cooking, is often adulterated with dried seeds of volatile oil. Similarly, black pepper, a common ingredient in Pakistani dishes, is mixed with papaya seeds coated with mineral oil, which is harmful to health. Aniseed (saunf), which is used to flavour pickles, chutneys and curries, is dyed with malachite green dye for that nice green colour.

Whole spices may contain foreign matter like dirt, dust, straw, stems, insects, and damaged seeds. Saffron is mixed with dried tendrils of artificial coloured maize, which is harmful to health. Caraway seeds (kala zeera) are adulterated with grass seeds coloured with charcoal dust, which is injurious to health. Most of these toxins injure the intestines and cause stomach and food pipe erosions.

The practice of adding harmful chemicals and adulterants in spices is common in open markets. According to a merchant in an open market, the police and price control committees are given bribes so that the business continues without fear.

Food safety has become a major concern and in order to safeguard their health, people should try as far as possible to purchase packaged spices and products (with proper informative labelling) from reputable and well-known manufacturers that guarantee purity and which are compliant with food laws. A little extra money spent on guaranteed quality products is money well spent. No saving is worth the life of a dear one.

You can control your asthma

World Asthma Day has been earmarked for patients suffering from the sixth most common chronic condition worldwide, which has affected over 300 million people of the world. In Pakistan, particularly, there is an urgent need of recognising asthma as a major health concern that is reported to have affected five in every 100 persons

 By Dr Samia Khan

World Asthma Day (WAD) is an annual event organised by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) to improve asthma awareness and care around the world. This year WAD 2008 took place on Tuesday, May 6 whose theme was "You Can Control Your Asthma". This positive theme is built to bring the global attention to the rapidly deteriorating condition and rising number of asthma patients, which can be reduced if steps be taken to alleviate the sufferings of patients.

The day has been earmarked for patients suffering from the sixth most common chronic condition worldwide, which has affected over 300 million people of the world and is responsible for one in every 250 deaths each year.

In Pakistan particularly, there is an urgent need of recognising asthma as a major health concern that is reported to have affected five in every 100 persons. Given the lack of awareness about the disease amongst patients, it is feared that the incidence rate will rise if prompt measures are not taken to control the disease on a national level.

There are widespread misconceptions about the allergy and its treatment in our country, which can be cited as one of the major reasons of its increase. Many patients think that certain food items cause asthma or that only quacks have a permanent solution to cure the disease. It is owing to such false perceptions that asthma patients fail to treat the disease the way it should be treated. Stigmatisation of the disease has led many patients with asthma to avoid using inhaler despite knowing that inhaler device is better than any other. 50 percent asthma patients in the country are not comfortable using inhalers in public merely because people assume that inhalers are used only when the allergy reaches its last stage. Doctors, on the other hand, reiterate that inhalers carry only negligible side effects and can be used even by pregnant women.

Similarly, misperceptions regarding the use of corticosteroids prevail among patients who are recommended to use it for better asthma management. Almost 90 percent asthma patients, contacted for the survey, had no knowledge of the inhaled corticosteroid therapy. According to doctors, steroids used for asthma treatment are completely different from anabolic steroids- the ones misused by some athletes. Without the use of cortico-steroids, inflammation of the lungs (which is a chronic feature of the disease) can't be treated. Doctors recommend use of inhaled steroids, as they are (for safety reasons) preferred over injected and oral steroids and can safely be used on a regular basis for more than 24 months.

Asthma control

Most of the asthma patients in Pakistan have their asthma only sub-optimally managed, as a result of which they have to live with the recurring symptoms of the allergy, which continues to haunt them in the middle of the night or appear unannounced any time in the day. Control over asthma means that a patient no more suffers from any symptom or sign of asthma for a long period, prevention of which can only be ensured by use of regular medication that aims to control and curb the onset of symptoms.

Medicine having a dual action and one that best controls the symptoms from occurring while reducing inflammation of the lungs at the same time is known as Controller Medication - a combination of salmeterol and fluticasone propionate. Use of controllers saves an asthma patient from the inconvenience of using two different inhalers and cuts down the number of daily drug dose for the patient. However, if and when a sudden attack occurs, relievers or bronchodilators can't be replaced with controllers, as relievers are far more effective as far as short term asthma treatment is concerned.

Asthma patients on regular medicine can enjoy all kinds of activities and stay almost free of asthma symptoms. Many patients sceptically think that getting rid of daily symptoms can't be a possibility for an asthma patient. The truth is that asthma is very much controllable, if not curable. It is only that patients with asthma are not aware of the fact that the activities they are restrained from doing due to poorly managed asthma can very well be done with totally controlled asthma.

The king of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachan is one shining example amongst the many celebrities with asthma who is adept in dancing to the tune of music and enacting all kinds of performances, even those demanding physical exertion. A number of Olympic athletes with asthma have set examples by outshining their competitors and winning medals.

 The global burden of asthma

•        It is estimated that there may be an additional 100million persons with asthma by 2025

•        In many areas of the world persons with asthma do not have access to basic asthma medications or medical care

•        He number of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) lost due to asthma worldwide has been estimated to be currently about 15 million

•        Asthma is responsible for 1,80,000 deaths annually

•        The burden of asthma in many countries is of sufficient magnitude to warrant its recognition as a priority disorder in government health strategies

Rotavirus - More than just diarrhoea!

When your child is going through the most critical phase of development, he/she is exposed to the imminent risk of rotavirus diarrhoea

 By Our Correspondent

Societies look upon children as the key to a bright future, and a bright future is guaranteed by healthy children. Sadly, regardless of whatever parents do to care for their children's well being there are certain diseases, which have till now been unavoidable. Rotavirus diarrhoea is one such illness.

Rotavirus diarrhoea is a serious childhood illness, which claims more than half a million lives each year. This disease is the single most common cause of severe diarrhoea in children that requires hospitalisation and specialised medical care.

Though generally diarrhoea caused by other organisms can be avoided by practicing good hygiene and sanitation, rotavirus diarrhoea cannot. The nature of the virus is such that it can survive on environmental surfaces for weeks. This translates into the fact that almost every child, regardless of whether they live in the developed or the developing world, is affected by rotavirus diarrhoea before they reach the age of five years.

When your child is going through the most critical phase of development, he/she is exposed to the imminent risk of rotavirus diarrhoea. What is more alarming is the fact that no treatment exists for rotavirus. Imagine your child suffering from abdominal pain, fever, dehydrating diarrhoea and vomiting, with the risk of death looming in the background, all you can do is provide symptomatic relief through dehydration therapy. With the child repeatedly vomiting the option of oral dehydration is out of the question. The only option left then is IV infusion in a hospital setting. The picture is highly morbid, but so is rotavirus diarrhoea, with the illness claiming a life every minute in the developing world.

In such a scenario the only way to combat this illness is preventing it in the first place. According to medical experts vaccination is considered to be the only prevention strategy likely to have a significant impact on the incidence of this disease. The vaccines for this illness have been developed after significant research and development. They have been seen to provide excellent protection to children against rotavirus diarrhoea when they need it the most, before the peak incidence of the disease.  With the second most common killer in children under five lurking the corners, parents should not underestimate the threat of rotavirus diarrhoea and should try to protect their children from this deadly disease.

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Health update
Child virus death toll in China 
rises to 34

The United States is offering to help China in its fight against a viral infection that has killed 34 children, including two reported Friday, and sickened thousands of others. The scope and volume of infections brings to mind the SARS epidemic of 2003, when China was criticised internationally for trying to conceal the emergence of the disease. Chinese officials have said that the outbreaks will not affect the Beijing Olympics in August. Preparations already have been marred by unrest in Tibet and demonstrations against China's human rights record during the Olympic torch relay around the world. The latest deaths occurred in the hardest-hit central province of Anhui, where 22 children have died of hand, foot and mouth disease.

Depressed teens more likely to try pot

Depression, teens and marijuana are a dangerous mix that can lead to dependency, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House. A teen who has been depressed at some point in the past year is more than twice as likely to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed - 25 percent compared with 12 percent. "Marijuana is a more consequential substance of abuse than our culture has treated it in the last 20 years," said John Walters, director of the report. "This is not just youthful experimentation that they'll get over as we used to think in the past." Smoking marijuana can lead to more serious problems, Walters said in an interview. For example, using marijuana increases the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent, the report said. And teens who smoke pot at least once a month over a yearlong period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than nonusers, it said.

Being breast-fed may lower breast cancer risk

Adult women who were breast-fed as infants may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer than those who were not breast-fed, unless they were first-born, study findings suggest. "As a general group, women who reported they had been breast-fed in infancy had a 17 percent decrease in breast cancer risk," Hazel B Nichols, who was involved in the study, told. "However, we did not observe this reduction when we looked specifically among first-born women," said Nichols, of the University of Wisconsin, in Madison. A woman's age at childbirth helps predict the levels of environmental contaminants in her breast milk, and studies have suggested a possible link between increased breast cancer risk and the accumulation of these contaminants, Nichols and colleagues note.

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