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The Telangana Science Journal

Health and Nutrition

(An International Electronic Science Digest Published from the United States of America)
(Click here to subscribe to this free e-journal)
(Dedicated to one of the most backward regions in India, "Telangana," where I was born, although I am an American citizen and ethnically 1/2 Andhra , 1/4 Kannada and only 1/4 Telangana.)
Chief Editor: Sreenivasarao Vepachedu, PhD, LLM
Contributing Editor: Venkateswararao Karuparthy (KV) , MD, DABPM

Issue 68

5105 Kali Era , Swabhanu Year, Bhadrapada month
1925 Salivahana Era , Swabhanu Year, 
Bhadrapada month
2061 Vikramarka Era, Swabhanu year,
Bhadrapada month
 2003 AD, August

Contents

Karuparthy Column
Smoking Causes TB
Harmone Pills
Remedy for Stress

Cervical Cancer Guidelines
The Dietary-Prostate Connection
Tamarind cure for fluorosis

Drugs, Tabacco, Alcohol and Money
Competition for Viagra

Federal Government's Message

Exercise and Longevity

Tastes Differ
Western Food Comes Under Fire
Timing of the Pregnancy
Cancer Discriminates
What if You Don't Eat Fish?

Recipes


Karuparthy Column

Management of Chronic Pain

(Continued from last month)

Smoking and Chronic Pain

Smoking currently causes some 700,000 deaths a year in India (see below).  Every year, more than 400,000 American deaths are attributed to smoking. Tobacco use kills around 120,000 people in the UK every year. There are many deleterious effects of smoking on health and well-being. Although tobacco accounts for millions of cancer deaths around the world, far more smokers will die of non-cancer lung disease, cardiovascular disease and stroke.

When it comes to musculoskeletol system, smoking affects every muscle and bone of the body. When a person is otherwise healthy it may not show any effects on muscles and bones, but when such a person has any minor or major musculoskeletol injury it has tremendous effect on healing and pain. The healing is delayed and so is pain prolonged. If this becomes a chronic pain the vicious cycle starts with more deleterious effects.

In a chronic pain patient who smokes, the blood flow to the muscles and bones is stolen and given to the brain, in simple lay terms. It may give a very temporary feeling of forgetfulness of the pain during the smoking and immediately thereafter for few minutes. This propels the person in chronic pain to smoke more than before.  The more you smoke the more muscles and bones are deprived of blood flow and nutrition essential for healing and lessening the pain. On the contrary they start to ache more and pain escalates even more and more as time goes by. The person in chronic pain is even more in deep addiction to nicotine than ever. This makes even more difficult to quit smoking. 

The effect of smoking on the discs of the spine is even worse and much more severe in a patient with low back pain.  The discs of the spine get their nutrition indirectly without direct blood flow. This is much like cornea of the eye where there are no blood vessels.  Cornea draws oxygen from the air and nutrition from the fluid in the back of the eye.  The smoking affects the peripheral blood supply the most and first. So the structures like discs in the spine which depend on the nearby by blood supply and watershed area for nutrition are affected most. This makes the discs loose the strength and degenerate faster.

All the above effects of smoking makes the chronic pain a downward spiral of increasing pain and increasing degeneration of musculoskeletol system.  It is also widely known clinical experience that chronic pain patients don’t respond to many modalities of modern or other treatments as compared to a patient who is not a smoker.  It is of paramount importance to recognize the very important role of life style modification, particularly quitting smoking, in any treatment.

KV, August 2003
Contents


Smoking Causes TB
Three quarters of male Indian smokers who become ill with TB would not have done so if they had not smoked, researchers report in a paper published in The Lancet,
August 16, 2003.  Smoking is to blame for half the tuberculosis deaths among Indian men, highlighting a neglected link between tobacco and the killer lung disease. Most big studies into smoking and health until now have been conducted in developed countries where tuberculosis (TB) has been uncommon for more than half a century. As a result, the connection with TB, which is still endemic across much of Asia and Africa, has been greatly underestimated, according to the authors of the first major study on how smoking causes death in India. The study also predicted the number of men dying from smoking-related illnesses in India could double to more than a million a year by 2025. The study suggests that in some parts of the world the main way smoking kills is not via cancer and heart disease, but by damaging the lung's defenses against chronic TB infection. About a billion people worldwide are carrying live TB infection in their lungs, but if they do not smoke then most will never become seriously ill. Smoking increases the danger that any infection will get out of control and cause clinical TB, which can kill and spread easily to other people.  Overall, smoking currently causes some 700,000 deaths a year in India, 550,000 among men aged 25-69. The number of deaths could double by 2025 if current smoking patterns persist, the authors conclude.
Contents


Harmone Pills
Preliminary results, released last year, showed an overall increase in heart attack risk of nearly 30 percent in women who took the hormone pill Prempro, compared with women taking dummy pills. The study's final version, published in August 7, 2003's New England Journal of Medicine, found a similar elevated risk of 24 percent. The risk was especially high, 81 percent higher, during the first year that women took the hormone pill Prempro. Over a 5.6-year period, the study found there were 190 heart attacks, 39 of them fatal, among 8,506 women taking Prempro, compared to 148 heart attacks, 34 them fatal, among 8,102 women taking dummy pills.  About 6 million American women were taking hormone replacement pills.
Contents


Remedy for Stress
Even on a good day, going to work can be no picnic. But in an economy where rising layoffs, tight budgets, and long hours are driving some employees to their physical and mental limits, some companies are looking for remedies to keep this from affecting the bottom line, USA Today reports. An employee counseling service in Chicago says it's getting 23 percent more calls from stressed-out clients this year than in the same period in 2002. A survey by another firm says a quarter to a third of employees are feeling physically ill, depressed, or sleep deprived. Some companies recognize this phenomenon as a threat to profits through higher health care costs and decreased productivity. One pharmaceutical company is offering a drug-free remedy: meditation sessions in place of a coffee break.
Contents


Cervical Cancer Guidelines
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said:
-A first Pap test should occur within three years after first sexual intercourse or by age 21, whichever comes first. Previously, women were supposed to be tested by age 18 or onset of sexual activity.
-Women should undergo annual Pap tests up to age 30.
-Those 30 and older have two options. They can start getting checked every two to three years after having three consecutive, normal Pap tests. Or they undergo a combination of a Pap exam and testing for the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that causes most cervical cancer. Passing both those tests means they need rechecking no more than every three years. There are numerous strains of the HPV virus.  Most clear up on their own, but a few types linger to cause cancer. HPV testing isn't appropriate for women under 30, because younger women often test positive for the harmless, transient strains, ACOG stressed.  Some women may need more frequent exams, such as those with weak immune systems or previous cervical cancer, ACOG cautioned. The advice largely mirrors earlier recommendations from the American Cancer Society and the government.

The cervix is a small, donut-shaped structure, located at the top of the vagina. It is the entrance to the uterus. Cervical cancer begins with abnormal, microscopic changes in cells in the outer layer of the cervix, called the epithelium. This stage is called dysplasia. If changes continue to occur, cells may become cancerous and grow out of control. To learn more about cervical cancer click here.
Contents


The Dietary-Prostate Connection

Most risk factors for prostate cancer can't be controlled. For example, the disease is more common among men who are older, have a family history of the disease or are African-American. But researchers are gathering preliminary evidence on several dietary factors that may also influence the risk.
Saturated fat. Population studies show that Asian men living in Asia have a 2 percent lifetime risk of prostate cancer; when they move to the United States, the risk in the next generation jumps to 10 percent. One possible reason: the fatty Western diet. A number of studies have shown that men who eat a low-fiber, high-fat diet have a higher rate of prostate cancer.
Selenium. At least two studies have suggested that increased intake of this mineral in the diet — found especially in meat, fish, grains and beans — may decrease prostate cancer risk. In addition, as men age, selenium levels go down and prostate cancer rates go up.
Vitamin E. A Finnish study designed to examine lung cancer risk in smokers inadvertently turned up evidence suggesting that added vitamin E may reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
Lycopene. Higher intake of a substance called lycopene — an antioxidant found in produce such as tomatoes, watermelon, pink grapefruit and guava — also seems to be associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer.
Vitamin D. Known to have anticancer properties, vitamin D is manufactured by the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight. Population studies show higher death rates from prostate cancer in regions of the world that get little sunlight and lower rates in sunnier climes.

Contents


Tamarind cure for fluorosis
Regular intake of tamarind will reduce the risk of  fluorosis by sending out the excess fluoride content in the body through urine, according to a study by the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, reports Deccan Chronicle. The study was conducted on 18 healthy boys in Rangareddy and Nalgonda districts, which are affected by fluorosis, with each of the subjects consuming 10 grams of tamarind daily with lunch for 18 days. The nutrient composition of the daily diet was constant throughout the experimental period. Tamarind intake led to significant increase in the excretion of fluoride in 24 hour urine (4.8 plus/minus 0.22 mg/day) as compared to excretion on control diet (3.5 plus/minus 0.22 mg/day). The presence of tartaric acid in tamarind plays a significant role in  removing the excess fluoride from the body.
Contents


Drugs, Tabacco, Alcohol and Money

Boredom, stress and a lot of spending money are major contributing factors for abuse of drugs, alcohol and money, according to a new survey. The survey was released in August by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. It involved interviews with 1,987 kids aged 12 through 17 and 504 parents, 403 of whom had kids participating in the survey. The interviews revealed that children who report being frequently bored were 50 percent more likely to smoke, drink and use illegal drugs than kids who weren't bored. Kids who had $25 or more per week in spending money were almost twice as likely to smoke, drink and use drugs as kids with less disposable income, and twice as likely to get drunk, the survey found. Kids suffering from a high level of stress were twice as likely to smoke and use alcohol and illegal drugs as kids who reported low levels of stress. The kids attributed their stress to academic pressure and pressure to have sex and take drugs. The survey also found that kids who went to smaller schools and to religiously affiliated schools were more likely to be drug-free than kids who went to large or public schools. The average age of first use for alcohol was about 12, for cigarettes about 12 1/2 and for marijuana almost 14. 
Contents


Competition for Viagra

One-third of the men surveyed in a study appearing in the August 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine reported having problems with an erection in the prior three months. While the incidence of erectile dysfunction (ED) increased about 5 percent each year for all men, the problem was notably less common among men leading healthy lifestyles.  Being a vigorous exerciser and adding other healthy lifestyle factors such as eating nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day,  not smoking, staying lean and not drinking had the effect of adding 10 years to a man's sexual status. Men who did the equivalent of three hours of running or more each week or playing five hours of singles tennis reported a 30 percent lower risk of ED, compared with those who did little or no exercise.  Exercise seems to benefit the small arteries that control erections, much as exercise benefits other arteries, such as those that feed the heart. Thus, what happens to the penis may be an early warning of what could happen to the heart, such as a heart attack. Watching more than 20 hours of television each week, consumption of alcohol, smoking and being overweight were associated with higher levels of ED, as was having diabetes, previous stroke or taking antidepressants or beta-blockers. The risk factors for ED were about the same as those for heart disease.  By avoiding the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, men can help maintain better sexual function and live longer.

Erection begins with sensory or mental stimulation, or both. When a man becomes aroused through visual or physical stimulation the brain sends signals to the genital area that triggers the release of nitric oxide in the penis. This event is the catalyst that begins a chain of events leading to the erection. Nitric oxide in the penis activates the enzyme guanylate cyclase. This enzyme causes increased levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). When levels of cGMP are increased in the penis this causes a smooth muscle relaxation in the pelvis and corpora cavernosa and allows increased blood flow into the corpora cavernosa.  As the corpora cavernosa fills with blood it begins to expand due to the pressure created by blood, making the penis expand. And as it expands the arteries that normally carry blood out of the penis become restricted and are unable to carry blood out faster than blood is coming in. The tunica albuginea helps trap the blood in the corpora cavernosa. With more blood coming in and less going out the corpora cavernosa continues to expand and harden, thus resulting in an erection. When muscles in the penis contract to stop the inflow of blood and open outflow channels, erection is reversed. To learn more about the mechanism of erection click here.

In August 2003, the Food and Drug Administration has approved Levitra (from the word levitate). Levitra is a new drug made by Bayer and Glaxosmithkline that treats erectile dysfunction in men. When taken prior to sexual activity, Levitra helps a man achieve stronger and longer lasting erections for sexual intercourse. It contains vardenafil HCl, a drug in the same family as Viagra, for erection. Levitra comes with the same warnings as Viagra. It should not be taken by men who already take a nitrate-containing heart medication or alpha blocker drugs for high blood pressure or enlarged prostate. Men who've recently had a heart attack or stroke, men with very low or uncontrolled high blood pressure, and men with the rare heart condition called QT prolongation also should not take Levitra. The FDA suggests that all men undergo a physical exam before starting on Levitra. The main side effects in healthy men were headache, flushing, a stuffy nose and, rarely, dizziness.

One of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease is hostilility combined with depression.  Mild to moderate levels of depression symptoms combined with feelings of hostility in healthy men may raise their levels of a protein that is associated with clogged arteries and a greater risk of heart attack, according to new research in Psychosomatic Medicine. Previous studies indicate that the protein, called IL-6, is at least a marker of inflammation, and may even be involved in the inflammatory processes that cause artery thickening and buildup.
Contents

Federal Government's Message
According to a November 2002 health survey conducted by NCI, only 3 percent of men even know that they should be eating nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and most chow down only one-third of the daily recommended servings. Most women need up to seven servings a day, according to the cancer institute. Men are the worst. They are less aware of the benefits of healthful eating and generally have higher rates of diet-related diseases such as cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure. According to the NCI survey, men are one and one-half times as likely as women to die from cardiovascular disease and cancer, and twice as much from lung cancer alone. A diet high in fruits and vegetables has been proven to significantly lessen the risk of many diseases.  According to the NCI, a medium-sized piece of fruit such as an apple or peach, or six ounces of 100 percent fruit juice is an ideal serving. Men should eat nine such servings of fruits and vegetables a day and women should eat seven servings.  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in conjunction with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), has created a program to encourage men to "shoot for nine" -- that's nine servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
Contents


Exercise and Longevity
Finnish researchers found, in a study in the second issue for August 2003 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, in tests of male subjects over periods of up to 25 years, that higher levels of physical activity were associated with a slower rate of decline in pulmonary function with aging, along with lower mortality rates. The researchers found the decline in a baseline lung function test was about 10 ml per year less among men who were in the highest one-third (tertile) category for physical activity as compared with those in the lowest one-third. Consequently, the authors point out that middle-aged and older people should be encouraged to enjoy exercise.
Contents


Tastes Differ
In our genome, around 1,000 genes code for the nose's odour-detecting receptors (responsible for smell and flavour perception). Of these, more than half have become inactive in humans. Now a discovery, published in Nature Genetics, shows that at least 50 genes can be active in some individuals and inactive in others. A simple calculation, based on the new findings, shows that nearly every human being would display a different pattern of active/inactive receptors an individualised genetic barcode. The uncovered genetic heterogeneity affects the way aromas are perceived. The research shows that the level of obliteration of olfactory receptors varies among different ethnic groups. The investigators believe that soon a DNA chip could be used to perform olfactory genetics typing of panels and target audiences alike. Cosmetics and foodstuff design may be revolutionised in the same way that the drug industry now contemplates developing tailor-made medications based on breakthroughs of pharmacogenetics.
Contents


Western Food Comes Under Fire
According to eminent cancer specialists, who gathered in Hyderabad City for a two-day international conference on cancer research and prevention, organised by Apollo Hospitals, dietary habits contribute to two-thirds of cancers. Food rich in fibre and anti-oxidants help prevent cancer. Indians should not mimic Western food habits as a change in dietary habits can lead to uncontrolled cellular growth leading to cancers, particularly of colon.  Dr Vernon Steele of National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, USA, and world authority on basic cancer research, Dr Chitti R Moorthy, pioneer in cancer research protocols in the USA, Dr Bandaru S Reddy, international specialist on cancer prevention, Dr Vijay Anand P Reddy, director of Apollo Cancer Hospital, Dr Tripuraneni Prabhakar of the Creps, USA, told reporters that the incidence of cancer had increased in Japan after the people there changed their food habits from traditional to Western.
Contents

Timing of the Pregnancy
Women who become pregnant within six months of giving birth are at higher risk for premature babies, the overall risk of extremely premature babies was twice as high as for other women, and the risk of neonatal death was more than three times as high.  The risk increases even if the first pregnancy was uncomplicated, and regardless of the mother's socioeconomic status. The report appears in the current issue of the British journal BMJ.
Contents


Cancer Discriminates Against Various Ethnic Groups
The information collected over a 25-year-period from more than 700,000 cancer cases from the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program offers a look at how different cancers show up in different ethnic and racial groups.
 The study released by the University of Southern California covered 1976 to 2000 and showed that Black men and white women (non-Latino) have the highest cancer rates while stomach cancer is rising among Koreans and Chinese. Among white (non-Latino) and black women breast cancer rates have nearly doubled, as women have fewer children and at an older age.  Melanoma has increased so rapidly in Los Angeles County in the past two decades that it is one of the area's top five most common cancers. Fourteen cancer sites were studied, including breast, prostate, lungs, and liver. The good news is that many of these cancers were affected by lifestyle, such as smoking, meaning the rates can come down if lifestyle is changed - that's right - don't smoke, eat moderately and exercise, the researchers said.
Contents


What if You Don't Eat Fish?

Fish like salmon and sardines contain omega-3 fatty acids that are touted as good fats for health.  What if you are a vegetarian? What if you don't like fish? Or what if you worry about contaminants in seafood? A recent study by a nonprofit, the Environmental Working Group, found that farm-raised salmon had appreciably greater amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) than wild salmon. PCBs are a known cancer-causing agent in animals and a suspected one in humans. And because of concerns about the level of mercury in some species of fish, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises children, pregnant women and women who may soon become pregnant not to eat any shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish. 

Don't worry, omega-3 fatty acids occur naturally in flaxseed, canola oil, nuts, avocados, wild rice, kidney beans, melon, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, Boston lettuce, gouda, parmesan cheese, cherries, grape leaves and black gram and in some fish. They're also extracted, packaged and sold in dozens of dietary supplements. Increasingly, they even show up on grocery shelves as the latest fortification in such popular fare as bread, eggs, dairy products, margarine, baby food and cereal. Omega-3 fatty acids are already prized by cardiologists for protecting the heart against the inflammation that can lead to blocked arteries and for thwarting an irregular, often fatal, heartbeat. There's growing evidence that these polyunsaturated fats may also be helpful in preventing complications of diabetes and in soothing the inflamed joints of arthritis. Now psychiatrists are also taking a closer look. Omega-3s, dubbed the "happy" fats in some quarters, are under investigation for treating depression, bipolar disease, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, alcoholism, Alzheimer's disease and even the so-called baby blues, or postpartum depression.

Eat Urad (Black gram or Mungo Beans or Minumulu (Telugu)). They look like slightly dusty, black beads. Black gram is popular in the Indian Continent. Scientifically this bean is known as Vigna mungo (old name: Phaseolus radiatus).  Don't confuse Mungo with its cousin, mung bean or pesalu (Telugu) green gram or Phaseolus mungo (old) or Vigna radiata (new), also very popular in India.   No Indian would ever confuse between these two beans, but Western scientists are different. Especially when it comes to Indian diversity.   Taxonomic treatment of black gram (V. mungo) and green gram (V. radiata) has been confused. Verdcourt (1970) proposed that these two species should be treated as a single species. However, Marechal et al. (1978) considered these two as distinct species and his proposal was supported by many taxonomists. Two botanical varieties were recognized in V.mungo. V.mungo var.mungo is the cultivated form (black gram), var.silvestris is the wild ancestral form of black gram (Lukoki et al.1980).  These black beans with a white center are sold as urad in many Indian groceries. For a list of such stores, see www.thokalath.com/grocery/index.php. As halved beans, they are called urad dal.  Urad dal is available unhusked with its black seedcoat and husked.

A one-cup of urad dal serving contains 189 calories, 13 grams of protein, 12 grams of fiber (about half a day's worth) and one gram of fat.  Black gram requires only minimal soaking -- about half an hour -- before cooking, which takes another 30 to 40 minutes. In India, mungo beans are the common man's meal.  They're very popular and are eaten throughout India, from Kashmir to Tamilnadu in the south.  Most popular South Indian dishes contain urad, e.g., Idli, Dosa, Utappam, Vada etc.  See below for a North Indian recipe from the Bombay Palace and for South Indian recipes-Idli and related side dishes

Add some flaxseed. And some canola oil, too. Both are good plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids. A tablespoon of flaxseed has four times more omega-3s than omega-6 fatty acids, though you'll need to grind it to get its full benefits. You can enjoy flax-meal pancakes, flax-meal with honey and walnuts and flax, and other foods laced with ground flaxseed, e.g., cereal with flaxmeal and soy milk, curry with flaxmeal (and curry powder) etc. Canola oil has twice the amount of omega-6s as omega-3s: That's a far better ratio than corn, safflower and even olive oil. Avocados and nuts are also often touted as good sources of omega-3s, but avocados have about 16 times more omega-6s than omega-3s. Nuts provide omega-3 fatty acids, but also a lot of omega-6s.

Eat varied types of omega-3 foods. Every food group contains them. Among the standouts: wild rice, kidney beans, melon, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, Boston lettuce, gouda and parmesan cheese, cherries, grape leaves and mungo beans (urad). 

Use olive oil. While it's not a huge source of omega-3 fatty acids, substituting it for other oils that are loaded with omega-6s -- safflower, soybean, corn -- can help tip the balance back in favor of omega-3s, says Joseph Hibbeln, chief of the outpatient clinic at the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

Limit processed foods. They are often rich sources of soybean oil and therefore filled with omega-6 fatty acids, which compete against omega-3s for entry into key cells in the heart and brain. By flooding your diet with omega-6s, you make it more difficult for your body and brain to get enough omega-3s, experts say.

To find out how your diet stacks up in terms of omega-3s, you can download a free computer program, Keep It Managed (KIM)at
efaeducation.nih.gov/sig/kim.html
Source: Sally Squires, Washigton Post, August 19, 2003


Recipes
Daal Makhani
A dish that features urad that contain omega-3 fats, see above
.

Soak a pound of black gram, either whole (urad) or halved (urad dal), in about a quart of water for about half an hour. (The general rule is about one portion of beans to two portions of water.) Use the water for cooking. Simmer over a low to medium heat until about 75 percent of the water has evaporated.

Add the following seasonings to taste (start with about a teaspoon of each): chili powder, cumin, coriander, tumeric and salt. Simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes more, until the skin of the beans is soft and beginning to come off. The sauce should have thickened, like a paste. Remove beans from heat and place in a dish.

For an additional sauce: Brown a chopped onion in several tablespoons of canola, olive oil or healthy margarine. Chop and add four to five red chili peppers. Add a bay leaf, a few chopped curry leaves and about a quarter-cup to a half-cup of chopped cilantro. Add about half a teaspoon each of fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds. Simmer until browned and mixed. Pour atop mungo beans and serve plain or with rice.

Prince Joseph, supervisor of the Bombay Palace restaurant in the District of Columbia


IDLI
A dish that features urad that contain omega-3 fats, see above
Idli ravva (cracked par-boiled rice) - 3 cups
urad flour - 1 cup
Prepare a batter of urad flour with water (the traditional method of preparing urad batter by soaking urad dal and par-boiled rice for several hours in water and grinding is the best method). Soak the idli rava in water for about 1 hour.  Drain water from idli ravva, add to urad batter and mix thoroughly. Add salt and leave the idli mix aside to ferment for about 12 hours. Add some baking soda to the idli mix and mix. Take idli plates and place a drop of oil in each idli mould and spread it.   Fill the idli moulds with the idli mix. Heat 2 cups of water in a large vessel or idli cooker and place the filled idli plates and cover with lid. Heat in high for about 20 minutes. Remove the plates from the vessel and remove the idlis. Pour 2 tsp of sesame or flax oil while serving.
Side dishes - lentil-chili powder, coconut chutney, lentil chutney and.sambar.

Coconut chutney
Grated coconut - 1 cup; green chillies – 2; peanuts-1/4 cup, if you are not alergic; asafoetida - a pinch; Splatter with mustard seeds and urud dal. Fry the above in olive oil. Add salt to taste (~1/4 tsp). Add a pinch of tamarind, water and grind into a thick paste.

Lentil-chili powder
red chili powder- 1tsp; urad flour- 50 g;  gram flour - 50 g; ground flax- 2 tsp or ground sesame seeds - 2 tsp; asafoetida - a pinch, if you like; salt to taste
Mix and slightly heat in olive oil until the ingredients turn golden red in a fry pan.

Lentil chutney
As above. Add some water and make into a paste.

Sambar
Cut onions, raddish, potato, green peas, drumstick, hot green peppers, pearl onions, okra, eggplant, pumpkin, chowchow; 2 teaspoons of olive oil;1 tsp mustard seeds; 1 tsp urad dal; 1 tsp cumin seed; 15 red chillies (cut); 1/2 fenugreek seeds;1/4 tsp asafoetida; 1 tsp ground flax, 1 tsp curry powder; 1 ½ sambar powder; few curry leaves.

Fry mustard, urad, cumin, fenugreek and red chillies until urad turns golden and the mustard splatters. Add asafoetida and add vegetables and fry slightly. Add 2 cups of water and allow it to boil. Add ~1 teaspoon salt, tamarind juice (amount vary to taste) and .  Then add 1 cup boiled toor dal paste and heat until it mixes uniformly. Add ground flax seed, curry powder and sambar powder. Add curry leaves.
The Telangana Science Journal


Mixed Fruit Shake

Ingredients:

1 banana, chopped
1 cup non/lowfat mixed-berry yogurt
1/2 cup skim milk
1 tablespoons strawberry jam
1/4 cup kiwi, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
1/4 cup chopped dates
2 tablespoons wheat germ
6 ice cubes

Directions:

  • Place all ingredients in blender, add ice~ cubes and blend well.


Womenfitness.net
 
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Stewed Berries in Red Wine Sauce With Yoghurt Cream 

Ingredients:

12 berries
100 ml water
150 g sugar
100 ml red wine
40 g icing sugar
100 g hung yoghurt (curd tied in a muslin cloth and the whey drained out)
50 ml cream

Directions:

  • Cut the fruits into quarters. Add water and sugar and cook for five minutes. Add the red wine and slowly bring to a boil.

  • Lower the flame and simmer till the fruit is soft.

  • Remove the berries form the sauce and simmer the sauce for two more minutes. Fold the cooked berries into the boiling sauce and allow and chill.

  • To prepare the yoghurt cream:
    Mix together icing sugar, hung curd and cream and mix well. Refrigerate the yoghurt mixture for two hours.

  • Serve chilled, garnished with berries.


    Wheatgerm, honey and raisin muffins

Ingredients:

1125g (40z) wheatgerm

2 teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

75g (3oz) raisins

4 tablespoons clear honey

50 g (2oz) butter or margarine, melted

about 6 tablespoons milk and egg substitute

Directions:

  • Put the wheatgerm, baking powder, salt and raisins in a bowl, then add the honey, butter or margarine and egg substitute.

  • Mix until blended, then stir in enough milk to make a fairly soft mixture which drops heavily from the spoon when you shake it .

  • Put heaped tablespoons of the mixture into a greased 12 - bun tin, dividing the mixture between the 12 sections. Bake in a preheated oven at 1800C (3500F), Gas Mark 4, for 15-20 minutes, until the muffins have puffed up and feel firm to a light touch . Serve warm.


Womenfitness.net
       
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Source: The primary sources cited above,  New York Times (NYT), Washington Post (WP), Mercury News, Bayarea.com, Intellihealthnews, Deccan Chronicle (DC), the Hindu, Hindustan Times, Times of India, AP, Reuters, AFP, womenfitness.net etc.
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Copyright Vepachedu Educational Foundation Inc., 2003.  All rights reserved.  All information is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for special medical conditions or any specific health issues or starting a new fitness regimen. Please read disclaimer.





Om! Asatoma Sadgamaya, Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya, Mrityorma Amritamgamaya, Om Shantih, Shantih, Shantih!
(Lead the world from wrong path to the right path, from ignorance to knowledge, from mortality to immortality and peace!)
One World One Family




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