December Issue

14 December 2017
HEALTH
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Avoid red meat, dairy
products in winter
New Delhi : Dry fruits,
nuts, tulsi, ginger, leafy vegetables
in your meals in winter is
good, but avoid red meat and
control the intake of milk products,
suggest experts.
Bhavishya Wadhwan,
Founder at 98FIT and Neha
Ranglani Nutritionist and
lifestyle educator, have listed
food habits not advisable for the
cold season:
* Dairy products: Although
milk is known as a complete
food, but in winter it is better to
reduce its intake. Milk causes
phlegm and can thicken the
phlegm already present. This
makes you more uncomfortable
and increases the irritation in
the throat.
* Hot or cold drinks:
Everybody loves hot coffee, hot
tea, or hot chocolate in winters.
But we need to keep in mind the
amount of fat and caffeine they
contain. These drinks dehydrate
your body, which leads to much
thicker mucus. So, it is best to
avoid caffeine and opt for water or
herbal fusions instead.
* Red meat: Meat and eggs are
known to be the best source of protein.
High protein can cause a
build-up of mucus in your throat.
Processed meat and high fat meat
can cause problem, while fish and
poultry are relatively safer. But
you must choose organic meat
instead of processed.
* Fried food: Deep fried food
is a source of trans-fat and adds up
to your total calorie consumption
without giving you any actual food
value. Fried food also run the risk
of making your stomach upset.
* Non seasonal fruits:
Whenever a particular fruit is
available on off-season, don’t consume
them as they are not fresh.
This is because it may lead to illness
and health issues. Intake of
more citrus fruits during winter
season will boost up
our body metabolism.
* Sugar: Cold
weather and hot
chocolate go hand in
hand, but many doctors
believe that too
much sugar can
weaken your immune
system. One study
found subjects who
had just consumed a
lot of sugar weren’t
able to fight off bacteria
as compared to
those who had mostly
water.
* Alcohol: During
winter, we naturally
tend to drink less water and due to
the dry weather, the chance of
being dehydrated is high. Alcohol
can be a good option to warm up
your body but alcohol dehydrates
the body extensively which can be
most damaging during winter.
Moreover, alcohol increases
your body temperature quickly
which adds to the chance of getting
cold during winter.
Why women are more vulnerable
to asthma risk than men
New York : Women are more likely to suffer from asthma
than men because of the absence
of testosterone — the male sex
hormone — which prevents
lungs from inhaling harmful
pollen, dust or other airborne
allergens, finds a study. The
findings showed that testosterone
acts on immune cells that
act as first line of defenders of
the body against invading viruses.
These immune cells are
linked to asthma symptoms, such as inflammation and mucus
production in the lungs, which causes airways to narrow during
an asthma attack. “Initially we thought that ovarian hormones
would increase inflammation, more so than testosterone
making it better,” said Dawn Newcomb, from the
Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, the US. “I was surprised
to see that testosterone was more important in reducing
inflammation,” Newcomb said. Prior studies have showed
before puberty boys have approximately 1.5 times higher rate
of asthma than girls. That trend reverses after puberty, when
women are twice likely to have asthma as men. This pattern
continues until women hit menopause, and then the asthma
rates in women start to decline, the researchers said. For the
study, appearing in the journal Cell Reports, the team focused
on lung cells called Group 2 innate lymphoid cells, or ILC2
cells — which make cytokines, proteins that cause inflammation
and mucus production in the lungs, making it harder
to breathe. The researchers collected blood from people with
and without asthma and found that those with asthma had
more ILC2 cells than those without. Asthmatic women were
found with more ILC2 cells than men.
In addition, when the researchers added testosterone, to
the ILC2 cells, they found that the male hormone prevented
the cells from expanding and reduced the production of
cytokines. However,”sex hormones are not the only mechanism
but, rather, one of many mechanisms that could be
regulating airway inflammation”, Newcomb said.