August 2019

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
HEALTH
August 2019
13
Mediterranean diet during pregnancy may
lower gestational diabetes risk : Study
LONDON : Women who follow a
Mediterranean-style diet during pregnancy,
including a daily portion of walnuts and
almonds, and extra virgin olive oil, may
have a lower risk of gestational diabetes,
a study claims.
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes
that is first seen in a pregnant
woman who did not have diabetes before
she was pregnant.
The results, published in the journal PLOS
Medicine, found women who followed a
Mediterranean-style diet during pregnancy had a
35 per cent lower risk of gestational diabetes and
on average gained 2.75 pounds less, compared to
women who received standard prenatal care.
A Mediterranean-style diet rich in good, unsaturated
fats, found in foods like walnuts and extra
virgin olive oil, has been shown to reduce the risk
of heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death in
adults, according to researchers at Queen Mary
University of London and the University of
Warwick in the UK. Walnuts, in particular, are a
traditional food in the Mediterranean diet because
of their omega-3 ALA content and bioactive compounds,
they said.
While there has been extensive research on the
Mediterranean diet to date, the diet's potential to
improve maternal and offspring outcomes has not
been widely evaluated, making this study particularly
valuable. The study included 1,252 multi-ethnic
inner-city pregnant women with metabolic risk
factors, including obesity and chronic hypertension.
In addition to receiving folic acid and vitamin D
supplementation, the women were randomly
assigned to either a Mediterranean-style diet or a
control group that received dietary advice per UK
national recommendations for prenatal care and
weight management during pregnancy.
Those who followed the Mediterranean diet
consumed a daily portion of nuts, including 15
gram of walnuts, 7.5 gram of almonds, 7.5 gram of
hazelnuts) and used extra virgin olive oil as their
main source of cooking fat. In addition, the diet
emphasised fruit, vegetables, non-refined grains
5 hours daily on phone
increases risk of obesity
New Delhi : Researchers have found that
students who use their smartphones five or
more hours a day are prone to higher risk of
obesity and likely to have other lifestyle
habits that increases the risk of heart disease.
According to a study, researchers analysed
1,060 students (700 girls and 360 boys) of
Colombia with an average age of 19 years
and 20 years, respectively.
"It is important for the general population
to know and be aware that, despite being
undoubtedly attractive for its multiple purposes,
portability, comfort, access to countless
services, information and entertainment
sources, mobile technology should also be
used to improve habits and healthy behaviours,"
said study lead Author Mirary
Mantilla-Morron from the Simon Bolivar
University in Colombia.
The study found that the risk of obesity
increases by 43 per cent if a smartphone was
used for five or more hours a day, as participating
students were twice as likely to drink
more sugary drinks, fast food, sweets, snacks
and have decreased physical activities.
According to researchers, 26 per cent of
the students who were overweight and 4.6
per cent who were obese spent more than
five hours using their device. Spending too
much time using the smartphone facilitates
sedentary behaviours, reduces the time of
physical activity, which increases the risk of
premature death, diabetes, heart disease and
different types of cancer, the study said.
According to Rajesh Kapoor, surgical
Gastroenterology, Jaypee Hospital, Noida,
using smartphones today is not a mere
choice, rather it has become a necessity. But
using it for too long may risk your healthy
life. "The best way out is to encourage yourself
to reduce the duration of time being used
on phones and other related gadgets at the
same time, to indulge in physical activities
like yoga or any other sports or exercise pattern,
and by not becoming a couch potato,"
Kapoor told IANS.
"It is not a question of five or more hours
on the phone. It is a question of how much
activity level we are able to build into our
life," Achal Bhagat, Senior Consultant,
Psychiatry at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals
in Delhi told IANS.
"And if we are not able to build it to an
adequate level, then it increases the chances
of obesity and related health risk factors.
Phone is one of the ways of exhibiting that
we are not doing enough physical activities
in our life," he added.
Two junior doctors suspended over TikTok video
Hyderabad : In the latest TikTok controversy,
two junior doctors, including a
woman, at the government-run Gandhi
Hospital here were suspended on Friday
after their video shot in the hospital went
viral. The junior doctors in the physiotherapy
department made the video and
uploaded it on video-sharing platform.
Their action came under flak from
netizens for behaving irresponsibly in the
hospital where many poor patients turn up
for treatment. Taking serious note of this
incident, hospital authorities suspended
the two junior doctors and also served
notice to the in charge of the physiotherapy
department. They also ordered a probe
into the incident.
Hospital officials clarified that both
medicos were not from the Gandhi Medical
College but from some other college and
were doing an internship at the hospital.
This is the second such incident in a
government-run institution this month.
Seven contract employees of Khammam
Municipal Corporation faced a wage cut
after their TikTok videos shot in the
office went viral earlier this month. In
another incident on July 19, Telangana
Home Minister Mohammed Mehmood
Ali's grandson Furqan Ahmed appeared
in a TikTok video with his friend. Seen
sitting on an official car registered in the
name of Director General of Police and a
part of the Home Minister's convoy,
Ahmed's friend enacted a scene from
Telugu film "Don", threatening to slit the
throat of a police officer.
The Home Minister had apologized for
his grandson's action.
and legumes; moderate to high consumption of
fish; small to moderate intake of poultry and dairy
products; low intake of red meat and processed
meat; and avoidance of sugary drinks, fast food,
and food rich in animal-based fat.
Participants received dietary advice at 18, 20,
and 28 weeks' gestation to help improve compliance
and make sure the diet was made culturally
sensitive. The researchers measured dietary compliance
using self-reported feedback from the participants,
so it's important to note that there could
have been human error in the reporting.
They also assessed the effect of a Mediterranean
diet on other pregnancy complications such as high
blood pressure, preeclampsia, stillbirth, small for
gestational age fetus, or admission to a neonatal
care unit, but did not find any significant associations.
One in four mothers enter pregnancy with preexisting
obesity, chronic hypertension or raised
lipid levels, which can lead to pregnancy complications,
long-term risk of diabetes and cardiovascular
complications for mothers and their children.
RESEARCHERS
develop tool to help
check chikungunya
New York :
Researchers have
developed a tool that
attracts and captures
female mosquitoes
looking for a site to
lay eggs, which in the
future may help curb
the chikungunya
virus.
The study, published
in the journal
PLOS, shows that
Autocidal Gravid
Ovitrap (AGP trap)
successfully protected
people from getting infected with the chikungunya virus in
Puerto Rico.
"AGO traps are a novel chemical-free, effective approach to
control Aedes aegypti (Yellow fever mosquito) populations and
provide protection from infection with the pathogens that these
mosquitoes transmit," said researchers from the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"Further evaluations should determine if AGO traps are sustainable
and effective in large scale community trials," they said.
The lack of effective tools to control Aedes aegypti mosquito
populations has resulted in the continued expansion of the dengue
virus, zika virus and chikungunya virus. For the study, the
researchers randomly selected 290 households in Puerto Rican
communities that had AGO trap interventions and 349 households
in communities without AGO traps. From intervention communities,
175 household members were analysed and 152 from nonintervention
communities.
Blood samples were collected from each participant to detect
chikungunya virus infection and surveys recorded demographic
information as well as data on mosquito repellent and bed net use
and frequency of mosquito bites.
A total of 114 participants (34.9 per cent) were seropositive for
the chikungunya virus. Among people who spent most of their daytime
hours inside the community they lived in, 10.3 per cent were
seropositive for chikungunya virus in communities with AGO traps
whereas 48.7 per cent were positive for chikungunya virus in communities
without traps.
Among all participants, including those who did not spend as
much daylight time within the community, 26.1 per cent were
seropositive for the chikungunya virus in the intervention communities
and 43.8 per cent were positive in communities without traps.