The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Scientists serve up ‘super spaghetti’ Posted: 20 Sep 2011 06:31 AM PDT  Researchers have developed a high-fibre, heart-healthy barley pasta dubbed 'super spaghetti'. – Photo by Ugorenkov Aleksandr/shutterstock.com Barley, the latest addition to the functional food craze, is an excellent source of fibre, antioxidants and vitamin E. Researchers Vito Verardo of the University of Bologna in Italy and Ana Maria Gomez-Caravaca of the University of Granada in Spain say that consumers may soon see packages of barley pasta labeled with the phrases "may reduce the risk of heart disease" and "good source of dietary fibre." The new report was announced last week and published in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The functional foods craze has caught on around the world with health-conscious consumers, creating an industry that is expected to reach over US$176 billion (RM549 billion) by 2013. Barley, which has already been added to some bakery products, has slowly been encroaching on the dairy-dominated industry to take up a quarter of the market. Other functional pastas of the future? Researchers in Mexico claim that using unripe banana flour can be a healthful alternative to wheat flour since banana flour contains antioxidants and fibre, according to a study published in the Journal of Food Science. Meanwhile, until these products hit the market, you can rely on whole wheat or other high-fibre pastas to fit the bill. But for traditional pasta lovers, the chewier, denser texture may take some getting used to. WebMD suggests making whole wheat pastas more appealing by serving with rich, flavourful sauces or layered (like lasagna) with sauce, cheese and vegetables. – AFP |
| Growing concern over drugs fed to animals Posted: 20 Sep 2011 04:33 AM PDT  The practice of administering large quantities of antimicrobial drugs 'favours the emergence of drug resistant bacteria that can spread to humans through the consumption of contaminated food, from direct contact with animals or by environmental spread,' said the World Health Organisation. – Photo by Joe Gough/shutterstock.com The practice of administering large quantities of antimicrobial drugs "favours the emergence of drug resistant bacteria that can spread to humans through the consumption of contaminated food, from direct contact with animals or by environmental spread," said Awa Aidara-Kane of the World Health Organisation. "In addition, genes encoding for resistance can be transmitted from zoonotic bacteria to human pathogens," added Aidara-Kane, who leads the WHO Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance. She was speaking during the 51st annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy meeting this weekend in Chicago. In order to reduce the risk of the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria via the consumption of animal food products, the WHO suggests restricting and even eliminating the use of antibiotics to boost animal growth. The world health body recommends limiting administering to animals the types of antibiotics considered essential to human health, such as fluoroquinolones and the most recent generations of cephalosporins. "We are seeing a significant increase in resistance to third and fourth generation cephalosporins in Salmonella Heidelberg infections in humans," noted Beth Karp, a senior veterinary epidemiologist with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Between 2008 and 2010 resistance increased from 8 per cent to 24 per cent. In retail chickens isolates, resistance in Salmonella Heidelberg increase from 17 per cent in 2008 to 31 per cent in 2009." The strain is resistant to nearly all antibiotics. Karp also expressed concern about the risk of resistance to cephalosporin antibiotics in other Salmonella serotypes. Nontyphoidal Salmonella is the main cause of food poisoning in the United States and affects about 1.2 million people each year, including 23,000 who are hospitalised and 450 who are killed, according to the CDC. In late May, consumer groups lodged complaints with the Food and Drug Administration denouncing the widespread use of antibiotics in animal feed and urging the agency to do more to halt the practice. The FDA had encouraged breeders last year to administer less antibiotics in order to reduce the risk of anti microbial resistance. J. Glenn Songer, a research professor at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, noted certain strains of the Clostridium Difficile bacteria that cause diseases in farm animals such as young pigs play a growing role in human infection. C. Difficile resists most treatments and is a serious threat in hospital environments. – AFP |
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