Boiling Milk or Killing Nutrition

Milk is a  store house of nutrients. It is a rich source of protein, vitamins and minerals. Minerals like Calcium and vitamins like Vitamin A, D, B1, B2, B12 and K are found in good quantities in milk.Everybody knows that boiling milk is necessary to destroy harmful bacterias presented in milk and to make it safe for consuming. But do you know how should milk be boiled so that the nutrients do not get destroyed along with harmful Bacterias?
                             The study, conducted by Indian Medical Academy, on women aged 25-40 in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Chandigarh discovered that people are not following correct milk boiling practices.
                                                    "They are boiling and reboiling milk on high flame for extended periods and that too without stirring it," the study says. About 49% of Indians boil milk more than thrice before consumption. Around 56% boil it for more than five minutes, and 73% do not stir it while boiling. Most Indians are not following the correct procedure in boiling milk.
                                                                                                "Chances are high that it won't be consuming quality milk," says Dr Pawan Gupta of IMA. He also said, "Boiling and reboiling milk at high temperature for a long time affects the nutritional content of the milk, particularly the B group (B1, B2, B12) of vitamins. They evaporate as heat rises. Ideally, milk should be boiled not more than twice and not for more than two-three minutes."

                                                                Boiling milk several times before drinking and that too at high temperatures, which reduces its high temperatures is highly prevalent among Indian women (also may be around world.)A first-of-its-kind Milk Boiling Habits study that involved 2, 400 women across eight major cities has found that Chandigarh leads , boiling milk more than three times a day. While, 84% of women surveyed in Kolkata always boiled milk for over five minutes. About 46% of women in Pune preferred to boil milk in high temperatures.
                                                       However, the best way to consume milk is by boiling it for not more than two minutes once. “In case of pasteurized milk, boiling it for a minute or two increases its shelf life. However, every time before consuming the milk, there is no need to boil it. Rather boiling it once and heating the milk till a certain temperature is just fine. Moreover, tetra pack milk doesn’t require boiling at all,” said Dr Priyanka Rohatgi, chief clinical nutritionist, Apollo Hospital.

 What should be done?
                                    1. Never boil milk at very high temperature for a long time.
                                    2. Don't leave your milk out in the open after boiling. Refrigerate it immediately.
                                    3.Don't forget to stir your milk while boiling.
                                    4.Don't use microwave-ovens to heat and re-heat milk.
                                    5.Don't heat your milk repeatedly.

References and more information:1.The Hindu
                                                           2.Times of India
                                                           3.DNA India

Antibiotic Resistance , causes and solution

“You are suffering from common cold and you go to nearest drug store and ask for medicine for cold. Along with common medicine like paracetamol, cetirizine etc they always give you a high costing antibiotic drug .” It is a common practice in India and many other countries where most patients are given strong antibiotics where antibiotics have no role or very less role in treatment of a particular disease. Almost one third of people all over the world believe that antibiotics are effective for the common cold and the common cold is the most common reasons antibiotics are prescribed .For my readers I want to tell that common cold is a viral disease and antibiotics have no effect on viruses causing cold as antibiotics are only effective against bacterial diseases(see refrences below for more info.).Beside different side effects, misusing and overusing antibiotics kills good bacterias in your body, makes your defense mechanism weak and also leads to antibiotic resistance.

                                                                                          Antibiotic resistance means “Antibiotic resistance is resistance of a microorganism(bacteria) to an antibiotic medicine to which it was previously sensitive. Resistant organisms (bacteria) are able to withstand attack by antibiotics, so that standard treatments become ineffective and infections persist and may spread to others. This is a consequence of the use, particularly the misuse, of antimicrobial medicines and develops when a microorganism mutates or acquires a resistance gene.” 

                                                            This means that a curable bacterial infection by an antibiotic will not be curable now with same antibiotic and this may prove fatal if no new antibiotics available. Nowadays, about 70 percent of the bacteria that cause infections in hospitals are resistant to at least one of the drugs most commonly used for treatment. Some organisms are resistant to all approved antibiotics and can only be treated with experimental and potentially toxic drugs. An alarming increase in resistance of bacteria that cause community acquired infections has also been documented, especially in the staphylococci and pneumococci (Streptococcus pneumoniae)

                                            The problem is that antibiotics resistance is happening faster than discovery of new antibiotics. Mostly old antibiotics like penicillin are no longer effective against most bacterial infections.  You may have heard about NDM-1 superbug which disables almost all antibiotics directed against it, leaving the bacteria in which the gene appears vulnerable to only to imperfect and toxic drugs.
Recent news shows that a totally Drug-Resistant TB emergeing in India.Assuming most bad situation it may happen birth of a new Bactria which is not curable and spreads so fast that it shall end human race from Earth.

Wrong practices in India: As I have told you that antibiotics overuse and misuse is common in India. Many physicians and pharmacists in India prescribe you strong antibiotics for mild infections and other diseases. But why! The answer is simple, antibiotics profits more for retailers and marketers and physicians got gifts or commission from them for prescribing medicine of a particular company and particular drug retailer. This may sound bitter to physicians and druggists who indulge in such bad practices but truth is always bitter. They have forgotten their duty and prescribe such costly antibiotics (also other medicines) also to poor peoples who cannot afford such costly drugs beside that they really not needed for treatment. The physicians and pharmacists should not do such things only to gain profit. I am not taking that all physicians and pharmacists do such things, there are still good ones for which their duty is at the top not money and I salute those good ones.

                                                              Besides that people are also responsible for it, leaving illiterate people even literate people self prescribe antibiotics for them for minor infections which are self curable by our defense mechanism of our body. A large number of people do not finish a course of antibiotics primarily because they feel better. People have havoc that a particular disease is not curable without an antibiotic. With all the described ill effects it is also weakening defense mechanism of current and future generations. In India antibiotics can be purchased 'over-the-counter,' that is, without a prescription from a doctor thus making condition worse. Most people in India will not do any exercise, yoga and other preventive measures like eating healthy food, drinking clean water but surely spend a lot on medicines.

           
                                                            Antibiotics misuse and overuse also done to cure domestic animals.  Drugs are used in animals that are used as human food, such as cattle, pigs, chickens, fish, etc., and these drugs can affect the safety of the meat, milk, and eggs produced from those animals and can be the source of antibiotic resistant bacteria. For example, farm animals, particularly pigs, are believed to be able to infect people with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA). MSRA is a type (strain) of staph bacteria that does not respond to some antibiotics that are commonly used to treat staph infections. The resistant bacteria in animals due to antibiotic exposure can be transmitted to humans via three pathways, those being through the consumption of meat, from close or direct contact with animals, or through the environment. The World Health Organization concluded antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feeds should be prohibited in the absence of risk assessments.

What should be done?

      1.      Physicians and pharmacists should not prescribe antibiotics where they are not necessary and also try to  educate common people about it. 

      2.      People should not try to become doctor themselves, always consult a qualified physician if you suffering from a disease.

      3.      No antibiotics should be sold without prescription of a physician.

      4.      People should take only drugs prescribed to them in prescribed quantity (no misuse and overuse.)

      5.      Animals should only be given antibiotics on prescription of animal doctor.

      6.      Government should take action against such wrong practices by physicians and druggists.

      7.      Government should introduce common drug knowledge in education system like in middle or high school levels.

      8.      People should drink safe water, eat healthy food and adopt cleanliness and other preventive measures because “Prevention is better than cure.”

      9.      People should adopt healthy habits like to do exercise and yoga regularly.

With all these measures I am sure that we can make a world free of diseases and antibiotic resistance.

                                                                                                                                           Thank you!

References and more information:  Wikipedia

                                                             WHO

                                                             Antibiotics and cold
                                                             Totally Drug-Resistant TB Emerges in India