A Way Towards The Prevention of Osteoporosis Through The Sri Lankan Diet -Part I| ඔස්ටියොපොරෝසිස් වලට තිත තියන දේශීය ආහාර වට්ටෝරුවක් මෙන්න I-කොටස

Source from:The International Coolhunting Magazine

Osteoporosis - condition of very low amounts of bone mass. Resulting in a high frequency of broken bones, especially at the hip and spine.

Osteopenia - moderate decrease in bone quantity (less than in osteoporosis). There are preventative steps, otherwise it will lead to osteoporosis, which causes the vertebra (bones in the spine) to collapse together, in turn the spine curves in the chest area (Dowager’s hump) causing a woman to become shorter.

Source from: Medline Plus

During childhood and early adult life the bone mass increases, it reaches the maximum amount when you turn 30 years. Normally, new formed bone tissue balances the amount of bone tissue that gets broken down and absorbed by your body (bone turnover). After menopause in women, and in some older men, there may be a breakdown of bone leading to osteoporosis. If you have osteoporosis, more bone is broken down than is formed and your bones become extremely weak.

At risk groups for Osteoporosis:

• Thin or underweight (about 25% of the Sri Lankan population is underweight)


• Older


• Female


• In men, decreasing function in the testicles and loss of sex hormones increase risks


• Using some medications


• Smoking


• Consumption of too much alcohol

Or if you have:

• Completed menopause (with age, womens ovaries stop functioning during menopause. These small organs, which had produced eggs each month, no longer make the hormone oestrogen. Oestrogen helps to protect bone. The other reasons for oestrogen loss include removal of the ovaries).


• A family history of osteoporosis
  


• Absent menstrual periods


• An inactive lifestyle


• A diet low in calcium

Source from: healthinfo.fitnessguide101.com

Around 20 years of age, the average woman has acquired 98% of her skeletal mass. Building strong bones during childhood and adolescence can be the best defence against developing osteoporosis later.

What do you know about osteoporosis and prevention? Think about it and leave comments. Our next post will be about several preventative methods

Written By-

Dr. Renuka Jayatissa

දැනගෙන කමු! | Nutrition-what for?

ඇයි අපි මේ තරම් පෝෂණය ගැන වද විය යුත්තේ?

උපතේ පටන් මරණය තුරා අපගේ මූලික අවශ්‍යතාවයක් වන්නේ ආහාරයි. නූතන වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාත්මක පර්යෙෂණයන්ට අනුව වැඩිපුරම මරණයන්ට හේතුව බෝ නොවන රෝග(Non Communicable Diseases-NCD) වේ.ඒවාට ප්‍රධානතම හේතුව වැරදි ආහාර රටාවන්ය.
මේ අනුව පෝෂණ පිලිවෙත ගත් කල එය අප දිවි රැකුමට මෙන්ම දිවිය කෙටිකිරීමටද හැකි දෙපැත්ත කැපෙන ආයුධයක් වැනිය යන්න අප තේරුම් ගත යුතුය.

අපට කුමක් කල හැකිද?

නිවැරදි පෝෂණ පිලිවෙත යයි කියාගනිමින් , දියවැඩියා, අධි රුධිර පීඩනය ආදී රෝග වලින් පෙළෙන්නන් ඔවුනොවුන් ආසා කරන සියලුම ආහාර පානාදියෙන් අත්මිදීමට වෙහෙසීම සිදු කලයුත්තක් නොවේ. මෙවැනි දුර්මත නිසා පෝෂණය යන වචනය පවා බහුතරයකට; විශේෂයෙන්ම ඉහත රෝගීන්ට ඇහැට කටු අනින්නාක් වැනිය.

අපගේ මේ ව්‍යායාමය ඔබගේ දිවි පෙවෙතට සරල, ප්‍රායෝගික හා විද්යාත්මක වූ නව මානයක් ඔස්සේ ඔබේ රුචි අරුචිකම්ද සපුරාලමින් සෞඛ්යමත් ජීවිතයක් කරා මග පෙන්වීමටයි.

ඒ සඳහා ඔබේ අදහස් මෙහි සටහන් කිරීම අපහට කරන මහත් දිරිමත් කිරීමකි.

you may find the english version of this article from here

Written by -
Dr. Wedisha Gankanda

Eat Well and Be Active | සුවබර දිවියක්

Some of the best 'medicines' for controlling your diabetes comes right from your own kitchen. Food is the fuel that keeps your body working. The exercise you do, the medicine you take, your blood sugar level-all are affected by how and what you eat. Don't give up your favourite foods. Just learn how much to eat, how often to eat, and how to prepare the foods you love to eat. There are no forbidden foods for a person with diabetes. The old way of just cutting out foods with sugar has changed. The foods that are healthy for people without diabetes are the same foods that are healthy for people without diabetes.

To eat well:

• Eat a wide variety of foods each day
• Eat high fiber foods, such as un polished rice, vegetables, fruits, and pulses (Cowpea, Green gram, Chickpea)
• Use less added fat, and salt
• Eat meals and snacks at the same time each day
• Eat at least 3 small meals each day
• Try not to skip meals
• Eat about the same amount of food each day
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Drink less alcohol or better avoid
• If you want to lose weight, reduce the quantity of foods while keeping the variety and be more physically active

Exercise is important for everyone. For people with diabetes it is vital! Exercise help for you to:

• Lower and control blood sugar
• Reduce how much medicine you need
• Decrease your risk of heart attack and stroke
• Lower your blood pressure
• Lower your "bad" cholesterol
• Improve your circulation and your health and fitness
• Reduce stress and depression
• Increase your energy level which help with weight loss and weight control
• Lift your spirits!

Getting started to exercise:

· Your exercise program needs to take into account any health problems that you have. Talk to your doctor first.

· Start slowly. It takes about 3-6 months, to reach the goal. It is necessary to warm up 5 minutes before the exercise and cool down for 5 minutes after the exercise to prevent injuries.

• Go for an activity you enjoy- walking, swimming, gardening, or a combination of activities.

If you already have diabetes, losing 5 -10 Kg may help you lower your blood glucose, blood pressure and improve your blood fats. Losing this weight may also help you cut down on a few of the types of medicines you take.

Written by-

Dr.Renuka Jayatissa

Essential Iodine for you and your family | අයඩින් ගැන දැනගනිමු!

Source: www.healthjockey.com

What is iodine?

Iodine is an essential trace element needed for brain development and the prevention of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD), such as goitre. Goitre results from a low amount of thyroxine (T4) (thyroid hormone) in the blood due to low dietary intake of iodine, which consequently gives rise to high levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). TSH stimulates biochemical processes causing the thyroid gland to swell which gives rise to goitre. An adequate amount of iodine is essential for the critical stages of foetal life and early childhood to prevent the development of brain damage and mental retardation.

Evidence:

IDD is one of the most preventable diseases in the world. The Nutrition Department, MRI, conducted a National Iodine Survey to assess the current iodine status in Sri Lanka, 2010. The study found a mild degree of goitre prevalence in North Western, Central and Southern Provinces. The median urinary iodine levels of school children were within 100-200mg/L in majority of the provinces and 113mg/L in pregnant women. Urine iodine levels are directly proportional to ones dietary iodine intake. The iodine content of salt, at a household level, varied between 1.1-137.5ppm. An alarming finding showed only 68.2% of households consuming effectively iodised salt, which has not reached the required level of >90%.

What can you do?

You can increase your iodine intake but introducing iodine rich food in you diet, such as; yoghurt, cow’s milk, cheeses and other dairy products, eggs, fish and shellfish.You can also help make sure the salt used in your household is fortified with iodine. According to the regulations, there should be between 15-30ppm of iodine in an average packet of salt, so make sure to read the packaging carefully. If you include iodine rich food in your habitual diet, whilst using a sufficient amount of iodised salt in your cooking and ensuring the salt you buy is adequately iodised, you and your family will be able to live a healthy and worry free of IDD lifestyle.

Written by

-Chavi Uduwaka

Vegetarian Diet – How to Plan Your Own | නිවැරදිව නිර්මාංශික ආභාර වේලක් සකස් කර ගනිමු!

Courtesy of The Witty Hippie 

What is Vegetarianism?

“The theory or practice of living on a diet made up of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, and sometimes eggs or dairy products”.

• True vegetarian: a person who does not eat meat, fish, fowl or products containing these foods. The eating patterns of vegetarians may vary considerably.

• Vegan or total vegetarian: only foods of plant origin: fruits, vegetables, pulses (dried legume grain), cereals, seeds and nuts.

• Lacto-vegetarian: plant foods plus milk or milk products.

• Ovo-lacto-vegetarian (or lacto-ovo-vegetarian): This diet also includes eggs.

Appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful and nutritionally adequate and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. As the popularity of vegetarian diets increase, it is important to be aware about the proper planning of the diet to minimise the nutrient deficiencies.

Courtesy of http://www.mayoclinic.com/

Daily Plan for Healthy Eating

Food Group	Minimum daily servings	Type of food equal to one serving
Grains	6 - 11	½ cup of rice or pulses (cowpea, green gram), Bread 1 slice,
Pulses, nuts, milk and milk products	5 - 7	Dhal 3 tablespoon, Cowpea ½ cup, nuts 1 tablespoon (peanut, cashew, pumpkin seed, cotton, sesame), egg 1, Soya 2 tablespoon, 1 cup of yogurt, ½ cup of milk
Vegetables	4 - 5	Cooked vegetables 3 tablespoon, green leaves and salads 1 cup
Fruits	2	Medium fruit 1, small banana 1
Fat	2 – 6	Oil, butter, matgarine 1 teaspoon, Coconut gravy 2 tablespoon, coconut sambol 1 tablespoon
Calcium rich food	4-8*	Milk ½ cup, Yougurt 1 cup, Kathrumurunga 3 tablespoon, Cooked soya beans 3 tablespoon, Woodapple 1 medium
Vitamin B12 rich foods	3	Yeast extracts 1 tablespoon, ½ cup of milk, 1 cup of yogurt, 1 egg, fortified food
Omega-3-fatty acids rich foods	2	Canola, olive, soybean oil or nuts 1 tablespoon,
Iron rich foods	2	Legumes, cow pea, spinach
Vitamin C rich foods	2	Guava, orange juice, papaya
Sweets	Moderations	Biscuits, Icecreams, sugar

Number of servings of grains varied from sedentary to active and female to male. Active men need the highest. Calcium 8 servings are needed for adolescents to meet the daily requirements.

Nutritional Considerations

· Energy: Children with adequate energy intakes will grow at a predictable rate. Infants between 6-12 months of age should be fed frequently to accommodate the required energy content from vegetarian diet due to small gastric capacity.

· Protein: Animal products are not a must to have enough protein in the diet. Plant proteins alone can provide enough of the essential and non-essential amino acids, as long as sources of dietary protein are varied and the energy intake is high enough to meet energy needs. Cereals, pulses, vegetables, seeds and nuts all contain both essential and non-essential amino acids. It is necessary to consciously combine these foods ("complementary proteins") during the day. Vegetarian children should be able to receive an adequate amount of protein to grow and thrive.

· Iron: Although the availability of iron from plant food is low vegetarians are not necessarily at a greater risk of iron deficiency than non-vegetarians. Pulses, green leafy vegetables, dried fruits and nuts in quantities are all good plant sources of iron. If fresh fruits in the meal (vitamin C) or processing pulse (germination, fermentation) will enhance the iron absorption of plant foods.

· Vitamin B-12: It is synthesised by bacteria and comes naturally from animal sources only. Total vegetarians or vegans need a reliable source of vitamin B-12.

· Calcium: Studies have shown that vegetarians absorb and retain greater percentage of the calcium from foods than non-vegetarians. Vegetable greens such as spinach, mukunuwanna and some pulses and soybean products are good plant sources of calcium.

· Zinc: Zinc is needed for growth and development. Good plant sources include grains and nuts.

It is important for vegetarian women to check their hemoglobin level prior to become pregnant . Elderly vegetarians should check their hemoglobin levels annually.

Though the person is vegetarian, active life style is a must to minimise chronic diseases like diabetes, heart diseases and high blood pressure. Exercise of at least 30 minutes per day by engaging in brisk walks, gardening, sweeping the garden, etc should be done.

Written by-

Dr. Renuka Jayatissa