Health Adda

Wheat, the staple diet of over half the world’s population, could paradoxically be the cause of several of our vexing health problems. A recent study in the journal ‘Nutrients’ points out that proteins in this cereal could be triggering a wide a range of disorders from autistic behaviour in children to liver cirrhosis in adults. Wheat does not seem to go down well in 5% of its consumers. In its most well recognized form called Celiac Disease, one of its proteins called gluten evokes an immune reaction from the small intestines, typically causing diarrhoea, malabsorption and growth failure in children. Funnily, despite having literally grown up on chappatis all through childhood, Celiac Disease often appears suddenly in adulthood with loose motions, weight loss, weakness, anaemia and fatigue. Celiac Disease can also masquerade and present in atypical forms such as delayed puberty, weak bones, deficient dental enamel, neuritis, diabetes, itchy skin rash or an abnormal body move...

Winter is a season when many find themselves not quite at their best: low on energy and gloomy in mood, resonating with the chill and fog outside the window. Seasonal depression, or seasonal affective disorder (SAD) as it is now called by mind-scientists, is indeed rather common affecting one of ten people. It often gets passed off as laziness or excess sensitivity to cold, but can also manifest as social withdrawal, oversleeping, appetite changes and weight gain. Many get unduly sluggish during these times. It affects women more often, plunging many into depression. The insidious entry of winter, with temperatures dropping, days getting shorter and the feeble sun peeping occasionally between fog and cloud, makes it difficult for many of us to notice the link between the weather and our mood. If however we think back on what we did at these times over the last few years, a recognizable pattern often begins to emerge. Patients are often able to link their feelings to this pa...

Alcohol, once tabooed in Indian society, has gained wide social acceptance today. Parties are no longer always as ‘dry’ as to keep the conversation hovering for hours around the weather, the boss, children’s school or politics. A couple of drinks make guests mingle better, voice their honest opinions about Katrina’s lips or Shakira’s hips, crack jokes and even sing a soulful gazal! Ladies have also started preferring spirits to Sprite as they join their men in the ‘wet’ soiree with equal gusto. Exposure to alcohol is not really recent; humans and their forefathers (apes) have tasted alcohol through the ages while munching or sucking over-ripe fruits, most of which have fermented cores.  The difference is in the concentration; it is a meager 1-3% in naturally fermented foods as the yeasts die when the alcohol levels rise. And these low levels can’t make one tipsy!  It is through the process of “distillation”, discovered by man a few centuries ago,  that alcohol can b...