ಅಧಿಕ ಕೊಬ್ಬು ಎಂದು ಚಿತೆಗೂ ಚಿಂತೆ - ಭಾಗ1

ಕೊಬ್ಬು ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಹಕ್ಕೆ ಅಗತ್ಯ ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಹದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಗತ್ಯಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಪ್ರಮಾಣದ ಕೊಬ್ಬು ಸಂಗ್ರಹವಾಗುವುದು  ಹಾನಿಕಾರಕವೆಂದು ವೈದ್ಯರು ಎಚ್ಚರಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ವ್ಯಾಯಾಮ, ಪಥ್ಯ, ಮನೆ ವೈದ್ಯ ಮೊದಲಾಗಿ ಏನು ಮಾಡಿದರೂ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಹದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಅಧಿಕ ಪ್ರಮಾಣದ ಕೊಬ್ಬು ಕರಗುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ, ಯಾಕೆ? ಎನ್ನುವುದು ಹಲವರ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಯಾಗಿದೆ. ಈ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗೆ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳ ಉತ್ತರವೇನು ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿದು ಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಮೊದಲು, ಕೊಬ್ಬು ಕುರಿತು ಪರಿಚಯ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳೋಣ.

Adipocytes ಅಥವಾ Fat cell ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಲಾಗುವ ಜೀವಕೋಶಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಹದಲ್ಲಿರುವ extra Lipids ಸಂಗ್ರಹವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ.

"Big Fat Myths: When You Lose Weight, Where Does the Fat Go?" (Ebury Australia, 2016) ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿ Ruben Meerman ರವರು, " Human triglyceride looks exactly like Olive oil, peanut oil and all the other triglycerides we squeeze out of plant seeds. It has the same yellowish color, the same energy density and the exact same chemical formula." ಎಂದು ವಿವರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಎಲ್ಲಾ Adipocytes ಒಂದೇ ರೀತಿಯಿರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ನಾವು ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಕೊಬ್ಬು ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯುವುದು white fat ಆಗಿದ್ದು,  ಇದು ಎನರ್ಜಿ ಸಂಗ್ರಹವಾಗಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡುತ್ತದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಹದಲ್ಲಿ ಇನ್‍ಸುಲಿನ್‍ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾದಾಗ - ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗೆ, ನಾವು ಊಟ ಮಾಡಿದ ನಂತರ- ವೈಟ್‍ Adipocytes ಗಳು ಹೆಚ್ಚು Fatty acids ಗಳನ್ನು ಶೇಖರಿಸಿಟ್ಟು ಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತವೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಹದಲ್ಲಿ ಇನ್‍ಸುಲಿನ್‍ ಕಡಿಮೆಯಾದಾಗ ವೈಟ್‍ Adipocytes ಗಳು ತಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ಸಂಗ್ರಹವಾಗಿರುವ ಎನರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ದೇಹಕ್ಕೆ ನೀಡುತ್ತವೆ. ( ಹೀಗಾಗದೆ ಹೋದಾಗ, ದೇಹದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಂಗ್ರಹವಾಗುವ ಕೊಬ್ಬು ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಈ ಕುರಿತು ಮುಂದಿನ ಲೇಖನದಲ್ಲಿ ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಳ್ಳೋಣ)

ವಯಸ್ಕರಲ್ಲಿ Adipocytesಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ಸ್ಥಿರವಾಗಿರುತ್ತದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಹದಲ್ಲಿ Adipocytes ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗುವುದರಿಂದ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಹದ ತೂಕ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗುತ್ತದೆ ಎನ್ನುವುದು ಒಂದು ತಪ್ಪು ಕಲ್ಪನೆಯಾಗಿದೆ. ಅದೇ ರೀತಿ, ನಾವು ವ್ಯಾಯಮದಂತಹ ದೈಹಿಕ ಕ್ರಿಯೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ತೊಡಗಿದಾಗ, ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಹದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಕೊಬ್ಬು ಎನರ್ಜಿಯಾಗಿ ದಹಿಸಲ್ಪಡುತ್ತದೆ ಎನ್ನುವುದು ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ತಪ್ಪು ಕಲ್ಪನೆಯಾಗಿದೆ.
"What really happens is that all of the atoms in fat combine with oxygen atoms to form carbon dioxide and water. Lots of energy is released by this process, but not one atom is destroyed or converted to energy." ಎಂದು Ruben Meerman ವಿವರಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಹೀಗೆ ಉಂಟಾಗುವ ನೀರನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಹವು ಬೆವರು, ಮಲ ಮತ್ತು ಮೂತ್ರಗಳ ಮೂಲಕ ವಿಸರ್ಜಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಶ್ವಾಸಕೋಶವು carbon dioxideನ್ನು ಹೊರಗೆ ಹಾಕುತ್ತವೆ.

 (ಮುಂದುವರೆಯುವುದು)

Dye or not to Dye

Hair dye products sold in market are made of chemicals. Three quick points to ponder.

1) What happens to our hair and scalp, when the hair dye is used either at home or in the salon ? Different points of view on how harmful the hair dye can be and counter arguments that claim there is no evidence to prove that hair dye is harmful to the users.

2) What is effect on health of workers in Salon, who perform multiple hair dying sessions in a day. Apparently there are more exposed the chemicals used in hair dye.

3) Disposal of used or excess hair dye products. It cant be through regular garbage or flushed down the drain. In my opinion, it must be treated as hazardous waste and disposed accordingly.

Before you buy a hair dye product, check if ingredients are listed on the label of the product. If you are salon, do a similar sanity check as well.  

Chemical based  Hairdye products use ammonia (or ethanolamines in the case of some ammonia-free products), hydrogen peroxide, and p-phenylenediamine. 

The ammonia separates layers of the hair’s proteins, so that the dye can access the hair shaft. Subsequently, hydrogen peroxide bleaches the hair and helps p-phenylenediamine, one of the primary coloring agents, to become trapped in the hair.

Ammonia is suspected to be respiratory and asthma irritant, a potential endocrine disruptor, and is one of the major environment hazards.

P-phenylenediamine is suspected to cause birth defects, skin irritation, liver and blood poisoning, and allergic reaction. European countries have imposed restriction on its use.

P-phenylenediamine is one of many coal-tar colors, which are derived from petroleum. Coal-tar dyes are suspected to cause eye injury and allergic reactions. Coal tars and coal tar dyes are suspected to cause several types of cancer. 

Hair dyes products may also contain toluene. This is a suspected neurotoxin, linked to birth defects, pregnancy miscarriage, and allergic reaction. 

Hair dye products may also contain resorcinol. This is a chemical suspected to cause to  impact our endocrine system. 

Lead acetate, is another common ingredient in Hair dye products. This is suspected to cause neurotoxicity. 

Conventional hair dye products can also contain several other chemicals like DMDM hydantoin, methylisothiazolinone, etc;.

Suggestions to consider

1) Avoid use of cheap products and products without detail of ingredients and possible side effects caused by use of the product.  

2) Explore use of Alternative hair colorants, which are based on green chemistry. Green chemistry is a discipline which employs nontoxic molecules to achieve better results than synthetic chemicals.

3) Explore use of natural ingredients based natural hair colorants which are lab certified.

4) Do sanity check on ingredients used in "natural” and “organic” hair dye products. Some of them are found to contain ingredients like p-phenylenediamine, ethanolamine, resorcinol, etc;

5) Instead of using less known or hair dye products without information of ingredients in a salon, check if they allow you to bring the hair dye product of your choice to the salon.

6) If you are using hair dye product at home, make sure to use nitrile gloves and apply the dye in a well-ventilated area.

My personal choice is to age gracefully. Worldwide many women and men are embracing this au naturel look.

Laser Refractive Eye Surgery

In 1980, Rangaswamy Srinivasan along with James Wynne & Samuel E. Blum at the IBMResearch laboratory, discovered that an ultraviolet excimer laser could etch living tissue thus discovering it's use in Laser refractive eye surgery.

If you have a refractive error, such as If you have a refractive error, such as nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), astigmatism or presbyopia, refractive surgery is a method for correcting or improving your vision. There are various surgical procedures for correcting or adjusting your eye's focusing ability by reshaping the cornea, or clear, round dome at the front of your eye. Other procedures involve implanting a lens inside your eye. The most widely performed type of refractive surgery is LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis), where a laser is used to reshape the cornea.

For people who are nearsighted, certain refractive surgery techniques will reduce the curvature of a cornea that is too steep so that the eye's focusing power is lessened. Images that are focused in front of the retina, due to a longer eye or steep corneal curve, are pushed closer to or directly onto the retina following surgery.

Farsighted people will have refractive surgery procedures that achieve a steeper cornea to increase the eye's focusing power. Images that are focused beyond the retina, due to a short eye or flat cornea, will be pulled closer to or directly onto the retina after surgery.

Astigmatism can be corrected with refractive surgery techniques that selectively reshape portions of an irregular cornea to make it smooth and symmetrical. The result is that images focus clearly on the retina rather than being distorted due to light scattering through an irregularly shaped cornea.nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia),astigmatism or presbyopia, refractive surgery is a method for correcting or improving your vision.

There are various surgical procedures for correcting or adjusting your eye's focusing ability by reshaping the cornea, or clear, round dome at the front of your eye. Other procedures involve implanting a lens inside your eye. The most widely performed type of refractive surgery is LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis), where a laser is used to reshape the cornea.

For people who are nearsighted, certain refractive surgery techniques will reduce the curvature of a cornea that is too steep so that the eye's focusing power is lessened. Images that are focused in front of the retina, due to a longer eye or steep corneal curve, are pushed closer to or directly onto the retina following surgery.

Farsighted people will have refractive surgery procedures that achieve a steeper cornea to increase the eye's focusing power. Images that are focused beyond the retina, due to a short eye or flat cornea, will be pulled closer to or directly onto the retina after surgery.

Astigmatism can be corrected with refractive surgery techniques that selectively reshape portions of an irregular cornea to make it smooth and symmetrical. The result is that images focus clearly on the retina rather than being distorted due to light scattering through an irregularly shaped cornea.

ಭಾರತ ರೈಲ್ವೇ ಇಲಾಖೆ ತನ್ನ ಗ್ರಾಹಕರಿಗೆ ನೀಡುತ್ತಿರುವ ವಿವಿಧ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನಾಧಾರಿತ ಸೇವೆಗಳು

ಭಾರತೀಯ ರೈಲ್ವೇ ಇಲಾಖೆ ತನ್ನ ಗ್ರಾಹಕರಿಗೆ ವಿವಿಧ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನಾಧಾರಿತ ಸೇವೆಗಳನ್ನು ನೀಡುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಈ ಕುರಿತ ಮಾಹಿತಿ, ನನ್ನ  ಇಂದಿನ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ-ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನ ಅಂಕಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಕಟವಾಗಿದೆ. ಈ ಲೇಖನದ ಲಿಂಕ್‍ ಕೆಳಗೆ ನೀಡಲಾಗಿದೆ. . http://www.samyukthakarnataka.com/1685728/Samyukta-Karnataka-Hubballi-%E0%B2%B8%E0%B2%82%E0%B2%AF%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%95%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%A4-%E0%B2%95%E0%B2%B0%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%A8%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%9F%E0%B2%95-%E0%B2%B9%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%AC%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AC%E0%B2%B3%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%B3%E0%B2%BF-10-06-2017/06-06-2018#page/19/1

Avoid single use Plastic

In 2016, global production of plastic reached 335 million tons. About 50% of this ends up as single use plastic products.

500 million Plastic straws are used everyday in US alone. They end up in garbage, litter beaches and pollute water bodies and oceans.
If there is need to use a straw, one can think of using a reusable straw made of bamboo, steel or glass. Avoid use of plastic straw and save the only earth from increasing plastic pollution.

Worldwide 1 million plastic bottles are sold every minute. Replacing plastic bottle with reusable alternatives makes significant contribution towards reduction of plastic pollution

Worldwide 1 trillion plastic bags are used in a year. Only 1% of them are recycled. Replace use of plastic bags with reusable bags, again contributes towards reduction of plastic pollution.

Worldwide 500 billion disposable cups are used every year. Most of styrofoam cups which end up as plastic pollution have a life span of 500 years.

Worldwide 78 million tons of plastic is used for packaging. 32% of this ends in oceans. That is like dumping one garbage truck of plastic waste into ocean every minute. This will increase to two garbage trucks a minute by 2030 and four garbage trucks a minute by 2050. By 2050 oceans will have more plastic than fish.

KMF supplies milk in plastic sachets. When they can supply flavored milk in tetrapacks and bottles, why cant they supply regular milk in tetrapacks or reusable bottles ? With proper awareness, people dont mind paying incremental increase in price to buy milk in tetrapacks or bottles.