Challenges from Modern Amenities and Simple Strategies to Combat those

AMENITIES AND BLESSINGS OF MODERN ERA:

We are lucky living in these modern times when science has advanced so much to ease our many health related issues. We are now able to take care of our health much better than what we could few decades ago. In past century alone, we had many innovations. For example, antibiotics were discovered, cholesterol is better understood, blood sugar meter invented, tests like HbA1c developed and we now know that peptic ulcers is caused by H. pylori and many such ingenious discoveries and breakthroughs.

CHALLENGES AND ISSUES FROM THE BLESSINGS OF MODERN ERA:

While these inventions and innovations have provided us so many amenities and blessings, they have brought many challenges and issues to our health also. If we understand these issues well, we can protect our health by avoiding many pitfalls that affect our health adversely. I suggest use of simple common sense to combat these challenges. I have explained some of the major issues and challenges and have suggested recommendations and strategies to keep enjoying the amenities and blessings and yet stay in control to preserve and protect our health.

Why this question? So many people are asking this question lately. Such apocalyptic prophecies are told every so often by someone. They seem to misinterpret facts. This particular prophecy emanates from Mayan calendar. Mayan was a civilization in South America, extending from almost mid Mexico to the Southern tip, centered mainly on Guatemala.  It went extinct about 5000 years ago.

Mayans left behind an old calendar, which is based on short and long cycles. Present long cycle of the calendar ends on Dec 21, 2012. Because the cycle just ends there, those who believe in such unusual and inexplicable possibilities believe that the world with all its life will come to an end on that day.

Disappearance of Civilizations: It is true that many civilizations have disappeared suddenly in the past without leaving any clues, of which there are several examples in history. Those that immediately come to mind are civilization around Egyptian pyramids, Mayan culture, Easter islanders, Incan empire etc. The reasons postulated for their disappearance are several theories. Such reasons are, for example, natural disasters, tsunamis, plagues and small pox epidemic, giant polar eruption, reversal of global poles, super eruption of Yellowstone caldera in US, earth to be hit by a large planet sized Asteroids or Meteorites etc.

Role of cults in such stories: Different cults have spread such apocalyptic rumors ending in many deaths, usually by suicides and killings by their security personnel raising lot of questions. One of the infamous events of recent time is that of Jonestown in Guyana, when 909 deaths occurred due to cyanide poisoning. Yet another more recent is that in France when 94 members committed suicide belonging to the Order of Solar Temple. The French government’s Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviances delivered a mass-suicide warning last year and is vigilant on such rumors. Even NASA has added a page of FAQs on their site to dispel the worries of people about this.

My take on this rather logical and simple:

• I have heard more than a dozen such prophecies and none have come true.
• I think the Mayan calendar will have its one long cycle ending on Dec 21, 2012 and a new one will start the next day, just like we do change calendars at the end of any year.
• NASA says there is no planet or Meteorites that may cause such accident.
• The Yellowstone activity is of no worry at the moment.
• The solar activity cycle is not at its height
• If the civilization was to end radiation accident seems to be one possible way with the existing and increasing nuclear arsenals. This may be started by a mad man or a group of people creating a chain reaction of nuclear bombing all over the planet. Our information about radiation is scant; it is worth remembering that Mm Curie, who found radio-isotopes only about 100 years ago, herself died of radiation poisoning.
• History shows us many civilizations disappearing, which may happen once again, but that will be act of nature or God.
• If that happens, and that is a big IF, no one will be there to discuss who believed in it and who did not. So why worry about such things?

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)

Hippocrates the father of modern medicine said this about 2,500 years ago and it was practiced by our ancestors to stay healthy. However, in the past 200 years the new modern life style has made it difficult for us to follow this old adage. With intelligent reasoning and common sense it is possible to follow Hippocrates’s advice and preserve our health.

The measures we need to take are simple but its positive effects on our health can be tremendous.

Whole grains food: Our ancestors ate whole grains. For longer shelf life of foods our industries are processing foods, thus removing vital nourishments and fiber from the grain by removal of bran and endosperm. Remaining processed grain contains very high percentage of starch. This is claimed to be the higher incidence of diabetes, heart diseases Alzheimer’s and cancers. Starch turns into glucose that spikes insulin secretion, which increases triglycerides and plaques in our arteries.

Fresh vegetables: Eat as fresh vegetables as best as possible. The veggies should be green, leafy and colorful. More color will usually mean better antioxidants. If you can consume raw, well washed vegetables, it is better still. To increase the yield the agriculturists have been using excessive fertilizers and pesticides. Many chemicals are new, untested and even totally unknown causing diseases.

Meat form grass fed animals: Grass fed animals provide better omega 3 essential fatty acids. Meat from animals fed on corn and artificially fattened animals provides fewer omega 3 and also contain inferior quality of micronutrients. Such foods also cause inflammation in body, which is touted for many modern illnesses.

Poultry products: These are also different in quality when compared to farm raised versus poultry raised chickens. Free range raised chicken eggs provide better omega 3 and nutrition than overcrowded poultry farm raised birds. Poultry farm also has problems of possibilities of infections. A lot of discussion is also taking place about the unhygienic and unacceptable conditions of poultry farms.

Fish consumption: Try and eat fatty fish once or twice a week. This also should be preferably from wild stock instead of farm raised. Fish is rich in anti-inflammatory essential fatty acid like Omega 3. Water pollution from industrial wastes contains a lot of PCB and high levels of mercury, which gets to us through fish and we should be mindful of this.

Ultra violet rays of sun for Vitamin D: Almighty has made sun available to the universe. Ultra violet rays of sun light makes Vitamin D in our skin. Recently we are getting habituated to live in air conditioned homes and indoor offices all day resulting to our exposure to sun to minimum. It is estimated that half the population of the USA is Vitamin D deficient because of this. It is claimed that vitamin D is not only a vitamin but a hormone because unlike other vitamins it is produced in our body. It is said to affect every cell of the body

SUMMARY:

In the name of modernization and conveniences we have either overlooked the importance of quality of our food. . Some experts believe that high incidence of cancer, ADD, Alzheimer’s, depression, diabetes and heart diseases is partly attributed to our attitude to the quality of food.  We need to learn some simple hints to follow the healthful advice Hippocrates. These are as follows:

10 simple hints to keep ourselves healthy and avoid diseases:

1. Eat fresh vegetables, preferably raw.
2. Consume only whole grains.
3. Stay away from Starch, Salt and Saturated fats.
4. Consume Mono and Polysachurated fats and only sparingly Saturated fats.
5. Consume a lot of antioxidants from Vit C, fruits and vegetables.
6. Consume a lot of nuts containing anti-inflammatory Omega 3.
7. Consume enough micronutrients and vitamins.
8. Put in habit daily exercises, cardio and weight lifting both.
9. Keep your weight to ideal level.
10. Stay away from radiation, ionizing and electromagnetic both.

Life styles of human being have changed hugely over the past two centuries. This started about two hundred years ago with industrial revolution. Use of oil and energy created another big change because these changed the pace of life fto very fast. These changes provided a lot of conveniences and luxuries but they have also changed our eating habits, which has adversely affected our health because our genes have been used to what our ancestors were used to for thousands of years. These conveniences have caused unintended consequences because of sedentary life style hence increasing risks to human health.

Let us see some of the changes that have damaged our health:

Over Abundance of Calories and Carbohydrates:

Few thousand years ago our ancestors lived on hunted food and gathered wild plants vegetables. This consisted mostly of protein and fat. Agricultural revolution brought us abundance of carbohydrate in our diet. High fructose corn syrup was added only 50 years ago. This is causing increased disease load in people with diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Lack of Exercises:

Cars and means of communications are added to our lives just about 100 years ago. Fastest means of transport was horse or camel until then. Now we have become sedentary and non-active with cars and airplanes. Remote-controls fax and internet has made us even worse. Our daily walking used lot of calories in past, which has disappeared and those who are conscious of it now need gyms to work out.

Lack of sunshine and Vitamin D:

With facilities of air conditioning and fast transport our exposure to sun has been severely curtailed. In developed world a substantial percentage of us are hence Vitamin D deficient. This is causing a number of illnesses like depression, Alzheimer’s and cancers. Pundits say that Vitamin D is not only a vitamin but an enzyme that works on every cell of the body.

Radiation:

Our experimentation with radiation is also only about a century old when we started finding the radioactive isotopes. Our experience of radiation started with bombing of Japan in WWII and then three accidents in nuclear reactors since then. With such minimal experience we are thinking to embark on having major part of our need of electricity with nuclear power plants, which is frightening.

Genetically Modified (GM) foods:

We have embarked on this without enough experience and we do not know how it may hurt us. We need to know its long term implications before it is allowed universally.

Hormone supported animal rearing:

Major part of our meat and chicken now comes from farms where hormones and unknown chemical feed stocks are used to fatten the birds and animals. These substances are consumed by us every day with our food.

Chemicals and fertilizers:

These are now major industries to provide us food. The chemicals in the form of fertilizers and pesticides are ingested by us with our food on daily basis. Aside from that the chemicals produced in industries as by-products are disposed in water channels eventually consumed by humans through fish meals.

Possible ways to avoid damage to our health:

1. We should avoid excessive calories and carbohydrate to avoid diseases.
2. We all need to exercise regularly to keep fit, burn calories and avoid insulin resistance.
3. We need to make our own natural Vitamin D by exposing ourselves to sunlight for a few hours a day.
4. It is wrong to allow something in our food like GM foods, about which we do not know enough. We must discourage its use until we are sure.
5. Natural and synthetic chemicals are growing in number by millions. We should restrict use of unknown chemicals and of those known to hurt.
6. Radiation is a new issue from last century. We have accepted its use despite that we know it causes cancer. We need to have more information about it.
   

“Let Food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)

We must use logic, reasoning and common sense to stop hurting our health.

Let us look at a few facts: Mankind has been living on this planet for many millions of years if you believe in theory of evolution or about ten thousand years if you believe in religious scriptures, from Adam and Eve until now. Either way, we see first mention of sugar in history 500 AD and not before. People used to eat all that was available on daily basis, hunted animals and birds to berries, plant leaves and berries.

So it seems that for thousands of years our ancestors must have had a moderate amount of carbohydrates in vegetables and berries but sugar from sugar cane  started only about 1500 years ago and that from beet just over a hundred years ago. Separated fructose is yet more recent innovation of 1960s from Japan and very quickly picked up by beverage industries because it is sweeter than sugar and yet cheaper than that.

Beverage and fruit juice industries made fructose so prevalent that sweet taste has not become only human weakness but probably turned into an addiction also. Hence sugars, which was not part of our diet for most of our existence on this planet has relatively suddenly become the main component of our calorie consumption.

Yet another fact is lost in history is that in 1931 Otto Heinrich Warburg was awarded Nobel Prize for the discovery of the fact that cancer cells thrive on glucose. Since then a number of alternate therapies of cancer have been tested with this discovery in mind with some success. Using Laetrile (bitter almonds and apricot pits), which contains Nitriloside is one of them. It is claimed that Nitriloside combines with Beta-Glucosidase, an enzyme within cancer cells and create Hydrogen Cyanide and Benzaldehyde, both of which are poisons. As these are released within the cancer, they kill the cancer cells. Nitriloside rich foods include apricot kernels, lima beans, sprouts, lentils, black-eyed peas, walnuts, brown rice, black berries etc. Another is Hydrazine Sulfate (HS) promoted by Dr Joseph Gold a research scientist of NASA. He promoted HS to stop glycogenesis (formation of glucose from protein) to starve cancer cells.

Despite that we know this relationship of cancer and glucose, our sugar consumption has grown four times per capita in the past one hundred years; some literature puts this increase to almost 400 times in last 200 years. Fructose syrup, which is recent innovation of 1960s, has taken up half of sugar’s place in our intake.

All the serious diseases like Diabetes, Obesity, Cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer, ADD and Cancers seem to be increasing in same proportion as the increase of sugar and Carbohydrate consumption. And increased sugar consumption is directly related to our new life style indulging in fast foods, processed grains, Vit D deficiency, increased exposure to various chemicals and man-made radiation.

We must plan seriously to prevent the increasing disease load. We may not have a direct proof but there are no doubts that all the circumstantial evidence points to the increased sugar consumption as primary reason for increasing diseases load along with other factors for our present dilemma.

I received an article circulated by email from an old friend Mr. Majyd aziz, who has remained President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries, largest organization representing the business community in Pakistan. Without any doubt his views are the views of the business community of Pakistan, which makes up majority of population of Pakistan.

No sane person in this world can condone that two neighbors like India and Pakistan should ever live in a strained relationship, let alone wage several wars more in the past 60 years, not counting many other serious interlocution between the armies on several more occasions. Both countries are nuclear power and a misunderstanding or accident can cause havoc not only for these two countries but for the region and even for the world. Both countries and particularly Pakistan has been spending a substantial part of its GDP on the defense for past many decades because India is considered to be the enemy on the border, thus robbing the poor public of the possible infrastructure, education and health facilities, electricity and even potable water.

Everything that Majyd Aziz has said in the article that is reproduced below, not only stands to reason, I feel it is the deep desire of every common man in Pakistan right from the time of partition despite he fact that many people lost their assets and some lost lives of their loved ones. He has eluded very rightly that emotionally charged attitudes because of personal losses suffered by some people of influence in Pakistan and not being able to see the reason and adopt a logical approach has caused  failure of creating a peace. Kashmir dispute has also remained an ongoing reason for the acrimony between the two countries to increase.

Well, as we write this, thank God we are witnessing the distance between two countries seem to be narrowing. Pakistan has decided to reciprocate the most favored nation status to India. This will help both countries and their citizenry. If anything, the implementation of these moves should be hastened to bring about peace and tranquility to both countries, region and the world. Let us hope that the ever present issue of Kashmir also gets resolved in this friendly atmosphere.

Here is the article of Mr. Majyd Aziz:

Lessons from Indian Army for Indo-Pak Businessmen

 By: Majyd Aziz

Former President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry

I was attending a meeting as part of the 80-member Pakistan Business Delegation led by Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim in September 2011. During the visit I noticed strategically placed billboards by the Indian Army. Each billboard had one of the three touching and significant slogan as it depicted the vision of the Indian Army.

I wrote down these motivating slogans. I realized that though these slogans were about Indian Army, they were remarkably applicable to businessmen of India and Pakistan both, especially with the prevalent “feel good” environment.

Their first slogan is “Empower your dreams”. For so many decades, the Indo-Pak businessmen, as well as their business organizations, have been demanding the normalization of bilateral trade regime and increase in trade and, hopefully, in investment. The desire has always been unhindered movement of businessmen across the border as well as longer duration, multiple visas without any limitations and restrictions. They want to see the day when there would be substantial bilateral trade ensuing very soon into a favorable and mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement. This has been the vision for many years and now the time has come for a formidable and sincere campaign to achieve this objective. The visit of the Pakistan Business Delegation in September and the expected 200-members Indian Business Delegation led by Indian Commerce Minister Shri Anand Sharma in February of 2012 would surely be the way in which the dreams would really be empowered.

The second slogan is “They march with melodious precision”. Businessmen and industrialists on both sides of Pakistan’s eastern borders have been on the same page and not only have the yearning to undertake extensive bilateral trade but are passionate about their patriotism and their demand for joint ventures, technical transfers, and a common approach to trading with third countries. They have unanimity of views and are willing to support each other on an individual level and even at international forums. This is imperative as the time has come for them to accept that lot of water has flowed under the bridge while the hardliners and negative forces in both the countries have created a state of despondency, misery, and hatred for far too long. That is one reason why it is important for entrepreneurs as well as workers and employees that the anti-business forces must be silenced and sidelined and that the advancement on the avenue of prosperity, progress and peace is largely dependent if they make headway with their own mind-set of trust, purpose, and strength. This would then truly be a harmonious march.

The third slogan is “Poised for victory”. Fifteen years after India granted Most Favored Nation status to Pakistan, a decision has been taken in Islamabad to reciprocate. Thirty five years passed by before any Pakistani Commerce Minister took a trip to New Delhi. After initially erecting unnecessary roadblocks at WTO against the GSP+ incentives for 75 textile items announced by European Union to assist Pakistan, the Indian government unilaterally decided not only to withdraw objections but also to support Pakistan’s case. Recently, India wholeheartedly assisted Pakistan at the United Nations enabling Pakistan to obtain the mandatory two-third votes essential for becoming member of the Security Council. Inspite of its own infrastructure shortages, India proposed to sell 500 mw of electricity to meet shortages this side of the border. Moreover, Premier Dr Manmohan Singh categorically assured Pakistan’s Commerce Minister that India would honor the Indus Water Treaty. India also is spending billions to upgrade the infrastructure at the Wagah border and this would result in the movement of over 1000 trucks every day.

Pakistan too has moved forward. The frequent meetings of the two Prime Ministers at the sidelines of high profile global forums has thawed the ice and enabled the Ministers and officials to make positive moves for the better. Recently, when an Indian Air Force helicopter entered Pakistan’s territory, the military did not take action but honorably allowed them to return to their base in India. Pakistan needs cheaper oil and favorably priced raw material for domestic industries. Pakistan also requires comparably priced machinery for upgrading its local industries. All these are possible from India. Pakistan understands that India and China have done wonders in bilateral trade and are expected to cross $ 100 billion by 2013 and that the possibility of Pakistan taking advantage of trilateral trade and investment is apparent. Pakistan knows that in the global trade scenario, stagnation and isolation are not prudent because the water is rising and it has to be plugged otherwise there would be the threat of drowning in the global deluge. Thus the only way to plug it is to think global and trade openly.

Yes, businessmen of India and Pakistan must pay heed to the messages on the billboards in the cantonment area of New Delhi. The messages are loud and clear. There is no turning back. At the same time, governments of both the countries must shed their paranoia, at least with regards to facilitation of bilateral trade and investment. India must recognize that a stable Pakistan is also in her own interest. India must also take the lead in accepting that billions spent on defense and security matters means that millions of human beings are kept in perpetual poverty, suffering, and deprivation. Jobs and quality of life should be the paramount priority. And, for the Indian Army, a short and sweet advice, with truly a sincere hope. The next time I am in New Delhi, the third slogan would have been amended from “poised for victory” to “poised for peace” because the two business communities would, by that time, have ensured that for sure.

MAJYD AZIZ November 09, 2011

MHG GROUP OF COMPANIES

D/49, SITE, KARACHI-75700

Cell: (92-300) 826-1969 

Email:  majydaziz@gmail.com

I watch with stunned feelings the following issues faced by mankind on our planet earth:

a)     Increase of disease load in last century, like diabetes, obesity, heart problems, metabolic syndrome, depression, Alzheimer and cancers.

b)     Man made radiation has increased our exposure to it by almost 25% in the past century or so.

c)     Population explosion on this planet; from few millions about 2000 years ago, to about one billion 200 years ago, to just over 2 billion in 1950, to seven billion in 2011, projected to rise to ten billion in few decades.

Here are my suggestions of possible response to the above issues as follows:

1. We humans are most intelligent on this planet. We must try connecting the dots and start having some plans to intelligently face this and correct our course. I am convinced that the disease conditions are caused by our modern sedentary life style, excessive intake of calories with high intake of starch, sugars and fructose, Vit D deficiencies, genetically modified foods, artificially fattened animals and poultry with corn and bovine growth hormones, and intake of chemicals via excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides and preservatives and byproduct waste of industries reaching our drinking water.
2. Our experience with radiation is only about 100 years old. Yet we are dealing with ionizing radiation of nuclear energy so very casually despite the fact that we all know of proven association of radiation with cancers. We seem to disregard the disastrous outcome of nuclear exposures in wars and accidents compared with its limited use in energy generation, medical diagnostics and irradiation.
3. For population increase I do not have any specific answers because it is an emotive issue. However, we all know this is already causing stress on all our needs and resources aside from conflicts and wars due to that. This issue is differently perceived by nations. In Western world the population has either negative growth or is increasing very slowly. In developing world the increase is very fast. Some countries are taking measures to slow it by family planning but attitudes differ vastly. Best example is Pakistan and Bangladesh, which were one country only about 40 years ago. Pakistan is one of the fastest increasing populations, whereas Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) has slowed down their increase very successfully by inculcating right attitude particularly amongst women who practice family planning.

Then there are other issues that have been identified of late. They are:

• Global warming and green house gases causing wild climate changes. This issue needs to have a global consensus, as to how do we address this. Every country has to agree to the right methods practiced together to succeed.
• Industrial waste being discharged into rives causing chemicals and mercury build-up in sea foods making them unfit for human consumption. Many pundits are predicting the wars for drinking water. Despite the fact that two thirds of planet surface is water, the potable water is scarce and we need to find ways to make more available to us.
• Monarchies and dictatorships disappearing giving way to democracies, hence liberating populations with or without experience of governance and economy like in China and former USSR. Again the UNO needs to have a plan to train the new nations on how to govern themselves equitably to avoid further wars and destruction.
• US bill of rights is the hall mark of aspiration for all suppressed people in the world. But it also being misused in the shape of too much freedom with very little responsibility. Unless the freedom is exercised with responsibility and moderation it will go awry and become the enemy of itself.

These topics need to be discussed by all concerned and intelligentsias; and a definition of moderation in all respect ought to be spelt out.

We all need to think through and definitely change our life styles to avoid diseases and cancers. First step would be to eat right, raw and natural as our ancestors did. Personally cancers weigh heavy on my mind because of personal losses in family. I also suggest we reconsider our relationship with nuclear energy. Going through the medical literature and history, I am convinced that most of these diseases are preventable and even reversible.

It is important to preserve and promote health and well being of mankind and our progeny. This may allow us to enjoy blessings of benefits of recent innovations of past two centuries and affluence that we enjoy because of it. I believe if we did not act wisely now, we may endanger the life on this planet by ongoing deterioration of health, invitation to diseases, scarcity of resources, wars due to it and /or a nuclear accident. This sounds apocalyptic but we all know that this is not only a distinct possibility but some of this is already happening. With possibility of such disastrous outcome, we need to approach all this with comprehensive strategy to avoid reaching a point of no return.

At a central level like that United Nations, all countries need to practice its charter and assist each other to avoid mutual suspicion and problems arising from that.

WE NEED SIMPLE USE OF OUR COMMON SENSE TO PROMOTE HEALTH & PROTECTION FROM DISEASES

Today everyone in their middle age and keeping up to date with recent trends would know that our life styles have changed from hard working and rural to sedentary and urban, almost all over the world in the past century. This has become a source of worry and a reason to think ahead to find some amicable way for our survival with good health and good quality of life.

Let us see some facts as we know:

1. From the medical literature and general observation we all know that prevalence of conditions like obesity, diabetes, heart diseases, Alzheimer’s depression and cancer are on rise.
2. Of these, obesity, diabetes and heart diseases are so prevalent that they are reaching almost epidemic proportions.
3. All literature points to the fact that these diseases are increasing more and more as we change our life styles from rural to urban and from hard working to sedentary.
4. We know that these changes have started to occur with industrial revolution about 150 years ago. We have seen the disease load to follow after 20 to 30 years of our each change in life styles.
5. Fast food, excessive calorie diet, high fructose intake, low fat or no fat craze causing high Carb intake, which started middle of 1900s also was followed by increased Diabetes and obesity in 20 years or so.
6. Sedentary life style has been followed by all diseases mentioned above roughly similar 20 to 30 years lag period.
7. Less exposure to sun due to our new habit of staying in air conditioned spaces and working indoors causes Vit D deficiency; a high percentage of population of Western world suffers from this.Vit D deficiency is now touted to be the cause of almost all the diseases mentioned above.
8. We have allowed our poultry and meat to be mass produced by bovine growth hormones, antibiotic and genetically modified corn fed animals to fatten them up quickly.
9. We are deficient in essential fatty acids like omega 3 because of low quality fat produced in such animals and poultry.
10. Our agricultural products are now laden with chemicals from fertilizers and pesticides.
11. In our daily lives we use petrochemicals in massive quantities; these are all new to our human genes since they all came into existence sometime in 1900s.
12. Our factories are discharging toxic waste in rivers polluting fish with high PCBs and mercury contents, Talking about mercury, half our dentists are still using amalgams, called “silver” fillings, which contains toxic  mercury, which stays only a few inches from brain all our life. This is despite the fact that the FDA has banned use of mercury in animals; it is not banned for use humans in amalgams.
13. If we plot a graph, the prevalence of diseases is directly correlated with usage of all these unnatural food or chemical.
14. We have started using genetically modified foods during past century with little or no effort to find out its untoward effects on our health and life.
15. Add to this the impact of radiation, our new love to rule the world with. We seem to be heading towards a catastrophe to human lives and perhaps for planet also. Until about 1900 the radiation load on planet was all natural from cosmic rays and boron gas from radium. Presently the natural radiation is same, but we have some 19% additional “man made radiation” to deal with, used in medical field and nuclear reactors.

We need to use our natural common sense to recognize as to which of the modern facility and affluence we need. We also need to understand much is it hurting us and how can we keep on using the modernity, while at the same time we do not harm ourselves, and other lives on the planet. If we did not think about this proactively, it is quite possible that we are crossing the tipping point and a line of no return and that we might be endangering all the lives on the planet bringing them to extinction with some unforeseen accident.

We have several examples of such civilizations disappearing and we do not have any way of finding their accomplishments and why they got extinct. I intend to write on each of these 15 subjects in due course, though some of them are overlapping. These are being researched and will be presented to you soon.

We do not need to look farther than simple correlation of consumption of sugars since year 1900 until now and the high incidence of many diseases during this period of time, almost unknown in the past. If we go back few hundred years ago and as some pundits suggest, our sugar consumption was almost negligible until about 1500 years ago. Cane sugar is in itself a relatively new crop and so is refined table sugar. Refined sugars became available only about 500 years ago and in abundance only from 1900s. Since then in the past 110 years, our sugar consumption has bumped up to 170 lbs/ person/ year from less than 10 lbs per person per year. It has gone up by almost 15 to 17 times more over last 100 years only.
In the past century alone, incidence of metabolic syndrome, which is collection of Diabetes, Obesity, Cardiovascular diseases, High Blood pressure and Insulin Resistance has increased many folds. As we discuss this, the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta projects the incidence of such diseases on an increase almost in epidemic proportions. We may perhaps add Cancer and Alzheimer’s high incidence in here also. No doubt proper studies and statistics need to be correlated but it seems obvious from these broad facts that there is a direct link between the two i.e. increased sugar consumption and higher incidence of all these “modern” diseases. There may be other additional factors like our modern sedentary life style, which keep us away from exercise, unnecessary high calorie intake and “avoidance” of exposure to sun due to life styles or sun screens because of exaggerated fear of skin cancers causing Vit D deficiency.

Here is a very thoughtful and informative article by Dr Mark Hyman that discusses an additional factor of our consumption of another monosaccharide sugar called Fructose. It is captioned “5 Reasons High Fructose Corn Syrup Will Kill You” on his website, which has following link:

http://drhyman.com/5-reasons-high-fructose-corn-syrup-will-kill-you-5050/?utm_source=Publicaster&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=drhyman%20newsletter%20issue%20#20&utm_term=Get+the+story

Fructose is yet another modern addition to our sugars from 1960s made from corn in Japan and introduced as High Fructose Corn syrup (HFCS) and made popular in 1970s in US and the world. Drink and Sweet industries immediately turned to HFCS because it was almost half the price of table sugar and 33% sweeter than sugar.

Fructose is naturally present in most fruits and honey but from those sources you cannot eat fructose any more than moderate amounts, say 3 teaspoon full (15 Gm) per day. Compared to that today a 20 oz cola drink bottle contains 13 spoons (65 Gm) of sugar and perhaps major portion of that is fructose coming from High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).
However, as we have been accepting many “new and modern” elements in our lives, we have accepted fructose also in same vain. Without understanding the amount of damage it can do to our lives and health. Fructose is metabolized in liver and not like Glucose in every cells of body. This is a biggest difference that we all need to understand. Fructose also does not stimulate secretion of Insulin and Leptin. Hence Fructose consumption does not tell our brain when we are satisfied by amount of food and that “enough is enough” and we keep on eating. The fructose sugar is also more likely converted to fat increasing incidence of obesity because its passage to liver for breaking down, which quickly gets full also.

I would also suggest spending time to watch Prof Robert Lustig, of UCSF’s very informative lecture (available on UTube) dubbing fructose as poison!! Such information points to same fundamental worry that we are being dragged into using and consuming many new things without being certain that they are definitely not harmful for us.
I think we need to have public advocacy groups to vet many new “faculties and utilities” that we keep adding to our modern life style. We all know of many chemicals (which are later declared to be banned), and many medicines (which are later withdrawn). Despite many such vivid examples we seem not to always think of the damage such facilities may cause to our health and lives before starting to use them. These include all fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, sugars, fructose, sun screens (two ingredients have been recently banned from it), radiation emitting gadgets like TV, cell phones, microwaves, high tension electricity cables and even repeated X rays and radioactive substances used for diagnosis and treatment in medicine.

Someone needs to take a lead and ensure that we do not hurt ourselves and our children in the enthusiasm of accepting everything that is “new”. These should be only accepted after thorough evaluation of safety to health and lives.

Any suggestions, as to how do we accomplish this?

Japan is used to face earthquakes because the country sits on a geological fault and suffers several hundred tremors in a year. Most of them are minor and people do not even notice it since they have gotten used to it in their daily life. However, some tremors are bad and may even be devastating. One of the worse earthquakes hit East coast of Japan on March 11^th, causing tsunami reaching across the Pacific basin to Hawaii and the West coast of America.

Unfortunately for Japan though, the tsunami which followed the quake was almost unprecedented proportion. Yet further misfortune which coincided all this is the fact that Japan has Nuclear Power generator on the East coast, about 100 miles from the epicenter. As per their precaution program, the reactor stopped working immediately as the earthquake struck. However, the spent fuel pools, which need a continuous cooling to cool down the used uranium rods lost its cooling mechanism by water because of tsunami waters flooding the diesel generators which were providing power to run the pumping machines, which in turn were bringing the water to cool down the rods. On top of that the backup battery power was available for only a few hours. Hence the spent fuel rods created yet another crisis with a risk of radioactive rods coming out naked from the pins they are held in and melting down spreading the radiation to surrounding areas in vast amount. The hot rods started creating fires also adding to the risk of melting of radioactive rods.

This awakens the whole world to the possible risk that we are all inviting by using Nuclear power reactors for electricity. There are hundreds of such reactors in different countries of the world. Most enthusiastic country in installing such reactors is France, which has 58 reactors with a major portion of its electricity supply from them. Europe has over 150 reactors in all and US has over 100 while many other countries have these reactors to find clean and perhaps cheap electricity.

As we are writing this after about a week from the earthquake, there has been a lot of worry expressed by many experts including those who have been very strong proponent of the nuclear reactors for electricity. Germany has stopped using 7 of their reactors which are old, US is thinking to have another look at all those reactors (23 of them) which use the same technology for cooling and have second though about new ones which were being brought in. other countries are also watching with discomfort.

We ought to have a United Nations Committee to deliberate on the future of the nuclear reactors for electricity. They should put a moratorium on new ones until its safety is undeniably guaranteed and there must be a watchdog committee to look at all existing facilities to stress test them for any future accidents.