International Journal of Food, Nutrition & Dietetics

Chronic pain was globally recognized as a condition with multifactorial etiology, multidimensional clinical presentation and multidisciplinary therapeutic delivery. The objective of this short communication was to throw light on dietary and nutritional supplementation as a management option for people with chronic pain. Although goal-directed healthcare and multidisciplinary rehabilitation dictated a comprehensive biopsychosocial approach to management, dietary interventions such as therapeutic fasting, oral cannabis, and oral tryptophan were reported to be effective dietary treatment options for people with chronic pain. The evidence however is too insufficient to provide any recommendation for practice.

As a result of defense mechanism and as by-products of cellular metabolic processes which utilizing oxygen in human body, certain molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are normally produced. Later these molecules are converted into free radicals in the body. Many factors are associated with the production of free radicals viz. smoking, drinking alcohol, high fat diet, too much sun exposure, existence of pollutants in the air and even excessive much exercise and stress. Exogenous sources of ROS include asbestos, crystalline silica, coal, diesel, chromium, bleomycin, herbicides, nitric oxide, ozone, radiation, cigarette smoke. Free-radical mechanisms may cause several human diseases including cancer, atherosclerosis, malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and neurodegenerative diseases. Superoxide radical (O2) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) are known to be generated in the brain and nervous system in vivo. When these free radicals are produced in excess, they can cause tissue injury. However, tissue injury can itself cause ROS generation, which may contribute to a worsening of the injury. ROS are involved in cell signaling, gene transcription, aging and enzymology. A variety of cancers generate ROS as well as diabetes and pulmonary conditions ROS generation is also associated with oxidation of lipoproteins.

Evolution is a long-term process of change, where desired characteristics are retained, undesirable ones allowed to regress, and undeveloped ones encouraged. Modernization, which has reformed the initial systems of work practices have also reformed the lives of the people. They want to be more productive, more involved, recognized and have stronger working relationships now. The impact of globalization on the transformation from traditional to modern business practices and operations in India is felt prominently with the development of call centers in the past few years. Call centers in today’s world, plays an integral part of the most of the organization and plays a key role in the service delivery chain. It has given a new dimension to the work culture in Modern India. India’s twelve hour time difference enables global organizations to provide their customers with 24 x 7 x 365 days services. This shift work alters the normal circadian rhythmicity – giving rise to concerns regarding health and well being. Odd working hours and poor patterns of eating result in poor nutrition. A total of 150 female subjects (n=150) were purposively selected for the present study and divided into two stages – initial and final stage (post counseling period). The data was collected using questionnaire method and 24hour dietary recall method. The subjects were counseled via “e-counseling” and various other methods of counseling such as PowerPoint presentation, personal counseling and printed material for a period of six months on the topics such as healthy diet, balanced diet, protein rich diet, and diet for maintaining normal weight, healthy food options etc. After six months the subjects were re-assessed for the present study. The feed-back of subjects included in the study group was received through either personal visits or e-mail. 92.0% of the subjects provided feed-back most frequently by personal visits while rest 8.0% responded through by e-mail. The age of all subjects were obtained with a span of 18 to 37 years with a mean spread of age was 23.46±3.88 years while 158.82±6.34 centimeter was reported as mean spread of height. It was inference statistically that the females were found with significantly differed calcium value.  In study group after counseling, the mean consumed energy (1293.68 kcal), carbohydrate (298.71 gram), proteins (44.34 gram) and fat (46.81 gram) were reduced at final  stage as compared to initial  mean consumed energy (1302.68 kcal), carbohydrate (304.89 gram), proteins (45.49 gram), fat (47.89 gram) but the mean iron (31.30 milligram) was little bit higher as compared to initial mean iron (31.06 milligram) and these mean differences in two sampling stages were not confirmed significant (p>0.05). At post stage, the mean calcium (653.50 milligram) value were lower as compared to mean calcium (690.20 milligram) at initial stage and this difference was statistically strongly significant (p<0.001). Therefore, it was concreted that administration of counseling benefitted the recipients in the experimental group and is effective..

A total of 60 children in the age group of 7-9 years, belonging to low income group of rural areas in Ludhiana district were screened for their haemoglobin and surveyed for their food intake before and after nutritional intervention. All the children were dewormed before feeding trial. Half of the subjects were taken as the control and the remaining half were fed with supplementary products namely ladoo, biscuits, matri and seviyaan, providing 400 kcal energy, 8.6 g of protein, 1269µg of beta carotene, 34 mg of vitamin C, 167 mg calcium and 7.7 mg of iron per day for 120 effective days. Supplementary feeding showed a significant increase in haemoglobin levels and weights of the experimental group children, thereby reducing prevalence of protein energy malnutrition among them.

The advancement in technologies and machineries which have made the living more easy, on the contrary have caused people to be less active and follow a sedentary lifestyle. Call centers have emerged as the most sought after workplace for Indian women in recent times. Due to intensive work pressure, requiring high levels of concentration, the performance of employees deteriorates, also performing one type of activity throughout the day. Long hours of work, permanent night shifts, incredibly high work targets, and health problems are major issues. 75% of women working in a call centers have direct effect on their health as working night shifts was upsetting their biological clock. In this study 300 call centre female employees were selected randomly for the purpose through medical assistance in the form of physical health check up camp arranged in the vicinity of call centre. The information related to their health was collected through a questionnaire and physical screening. Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequencies and % were used to describe the association of the variables. The study revealed that majority of females possess normal blood pressure (77.3%), the problem of vision was higher in number (50%) as compare to hearing and earache problem i.e.(32.3% & 17.7%). It was found that the prevalence of bone problems was also higher i.e. (82%) in females which included shoulder joint pain, wrist joint, and neck-back pain. The acidity rate was slightly higher i.e. 44% whereas constipation problem was not much common in females (29%). Majority of the respondents reported of occupational stress and lack of sleep respectively, (63% and 53.3%). Social health was also affected in fifty per cent of the females (51.3%) and irregularity of menstrual cycles also reported in maximum number of females (79.3%).

Iron deficiency anemia is the most common nutritional disorder, even in the current era. Adequate nutrition during infancy and early childhood is essential to ensure the growth, health, and development of children to their full potential. The objective of the study was to assess the impact of nutrition education on hemoglobin concentration of infants aged 6-18 months. Material and Methods: 300 mothers from Indore city participated in the study. Mothers were divided randomly in to experimental group (EG) and control group (CG). EG mothers received nutrition education at fixed interval whereas CG mothers did not receive any education. Pathological reports were considered for assessing hemoglobin levels and then grade of anemia was decided. Results: At baseline, the mean hemoglobin (Hb) level for EG and CG was observed to be 12.13±1.33gm% and 11.40±1.29gm% respectively. At Phase I, a significant drop in Hb concentration was observed in both EG and CG (p<0.01). Continuous nutrition education resulted in significant rise in HB levels in EG at Phase II as compared to CG (p<0.01). In CG, a significant increase in infants suffering from mild and moderate anemia was seen (p<0.01) whereas no change was observed in EG. Conclusion: There is a real need for parental education for sound and correct child rearing practices and, in particular, advice on how, when and why and with to feed the child. If nutrition could be improved at this age, there might be beneficial effects on growth and health of infants in the short run. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve traditional complementary foods in terms of energy density and bioavailability of macro and micro nutrients.   

Keywords: Adult Males; Income Groups; Nutrient Adequacy.