Eat What And Drink What Not • We Seem To Be Going In Circles
By DAILY GRAPHIC - Daily Graphic Feature Article | Wed, 01 Oct 2008
| 
 Never in any circumstance forget your country, because that's where you were born. - By: Hetti  |
A few publications I have come across lately, particularly on science and research, seem to be taking us on a merry-go-round, sometimes getting you confused in the process.
If you are familiar with those play stuff that one finds in amusement parks, they are fun and relaxing to sit on them even as an adult but you get uncomfortable and dizzy depending on where you sit in the hoop when it begins its merry-go-round.
Research and counter research findings these days seem to be contradicting findings of yesteryear.
Sometimes, one is left in the loop to juxtapose what one should do or not do, eat or not eat, wear or not wear, and the list goes on ad infinitum.
Years ago when we were growing up, for those of us who found food a big problem and did not fancy meat among other foods, we were told that if you ate without meat you would go deaf and so our parents encouraged us to eat meat.
On reflection now, there is some scientific sense in this encouragement. Later at secondary school, we learnt at our “O' Level Biology class that we need protein to build and repair body tissues.
Some of the rich sources of protein, we were told, included foods like meat, eggs, and fish. Years down the line, we are learning of new research that is turning things around.
For example, meat or egg lovers are being advised to go slow on their preferences.
A BBC monitor not long ago reported that the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Ravendra Pachauri, himself a top climate scientist, has called on people to consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming.
United Nations figures suggest that meat production puts more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than transport.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has estimated that direct emissions from meat production account for about 18 per cent of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions.
Transport, by contrast, accounts for just 13 per cent of human kind's greenhouse gas footprints, according to the IPCC.
Even before the talk on climate change was brought to the fore, we had been told that white meat such as poultry is much healthier than red meat such as beef, lamb or pork.
The irony is that, this same Science tells us that millions of pounds of antibiotics are fed to livestock annually to prevent infections from unsanitary conditions.
We are further told that due to the steroids that are injected in the wings of chicken, one of the unsafe parts of the chicken are the wings.
The caution also adds that skins and fatty tissues are to be removed before cooking to reduce the amount of pollutants and pesticides.
Talking about protein, a foreign news report a couple of weeks back on the unfortunate baby food scare in China really gives cause for concern.
The story reported a confirmation by the Chinese Minister of Health, Chen Zhu, that more than 6,200 babies had fallen ill after drinking formula milk made from contaminated powder.
According to the story, 22 brands of powder have been found to contain the toxic industrial chemical, melamine, apparently added to make it appear higher in protein.
Four of the babies, as of last week, have so far died while 158 of the sick have been diagnosed with 'acute kidney failure'.
Two of the cited brands are exported to Bangladesh, Yemen, Gabon, Burundi and Burma although it is not clear if contaminated batches are involved. Continued
If you are familiar with those play stuff that one finds in amusement parks, they are fun and relaxing to sit on them even as an adult but you get uncomfortable and dizzy depending on where you sit in the hoop when it begins its merry-go-round.
Research and counter research findings these days seem to be contradicting findings of yesteryear.
Sometimes, one is left in the loop to juxtapose what one should do or not do, eat or not eat, wear or not wear, and the list goes on ad infinitum.
Years ago when we were growing up, for those of us who found food a big problem and did not fancy meat among other foods, we were told that if you ate without meat you would go deaf and so our parents encouraged us to eat meat.
On reflection now, there is some scientific sense in this encouragement. Later at secondary school, we learnt at our “O' Level Biology class that we need protein to build and repair body tissues.
Some of the rich sources of protein, we were told, included foods like meat, eggs, and fish. Years down the line, we are learning of new research that is turning things around.
For example, meat or egg lovers are being advised to go slow on their preferences.
A BBC monitor not long ago reported that the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Ravendra Pachauri, himself a top climate scientist, has called on people to consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming.
United Nations figures suggest that meat production puts more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than transport.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has estimated that direct emissions from meat production account for about 18 per cent of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions.
Transport, by contrast, accounts for just 13 per cent of human kind's greenhouse gas footprints, according to the IPCC.
Even before the talk on climate change was brought to the fore, we had been told that white meat such as poultry is much healthier than red meat such as beef, lamb or pork.
The irony is that, this same Science tells us that millions of pounds of antibiotics are fed to livestock annually to prevent infections from unsanitary conditions.
We are further told that due to the steroids that are injected in the wings of chicken, one of the unsafe parts of the chicken are the wings.
The caution also adds that skins and fatty tissues are to be removed before cooking to reduce the amount of pollutants and pesticides.
Talking about protein, a foreign news report a couple of weeks back on the unfortunate baby food scare in China really gives cause for concern.
The story reported a confirmation by the Chinese Minister of Health, Chen Zhu, that more than 6,200 babies had fallen ill after drinking formula milk made from contaminated powder.
According to the story, 22 brands of powder have been found to contain the toxic industrial chemical, melamine, apparently added to make it appear higher in protein.
Four of the babies, as of last week, have so far died while 158 of the sick have been diagnosed with 'acute kidney failure'.
Two of the cited brands are exported to Bangladesh, Yemen, Gabon, Burundi and Burma although it is not clear if contaminated batches are involved. Continued
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