Heena Sharma Blog

Can sugar be the sole culprit for making India the diabetes capital of the world? Well, if some experts and sugar industry representatives are to be believed, the sweetener is being unnecessarily dragged into the controversy over rising cases of diabetes in the country, especially as a host of factors, including sedentary lifestyle and growing urbanisation, are causing diabetes. In a seminar on 'Sugar and Health', organised by the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the premier association of private sugar factories in the country, industry players said there was an annual increase of 6.25 per cent in diabetes cases in the country between 2000 and 2016. During the same period, per capita sugar consumption grew by only 1.23 per cent. ISMA’s efforts to highlight the health benefits of sugar come at a time when India is staring at a massive glut in the sugar market, with production in the 2018-19 sugar season (October to November) projected at around 30-31 million to...

Brazil has joined Australia to lodge a formal complaint against India, the world's second-largest sugar producer, with the World Trade Organisation (WTO), alleging that India's continued sugar subsidies to farmers have led to a "glut" and "depressed" global prices. The Australian Government first lodged a counter-notification with the WTO over to India's sugar subsidy practices last November. Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham on Thursday said India's sugar subsidy regime was inconsistent with WTO rules and had helped create a glut in the global sugar market. "That's hurting sugercane growers and sugar millers whether they're in Australia, Brazil, or any other country in the world," Birmingham said. Birmingham said Australia was "left with no other choice but to initiate formal WTO dispute action, together with Brazil". "The Liberal-National Government continues to ...

Consuming a Western diet, low in fibre and high in fat and sugar , can put you at increased risk of developing severe sepsis, researchers say. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found mice that were fed the Western diet showed an increase in chronic inflammation, sepsis severity and higher mortality rates than mice that were fed a normal diet. Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition caused by the body's response to an infection. It can lead to shock and organ failure. It is one of the most common cause of death worldwide. According to the researchers, including Brooke Napier from the Portland State University, the mice had more severe sepsis and were dying faster because of something in their diet, not because of the weight gain or microbiome, the body's community of bacteria. "The mice's immune system on the Western diet looked and functioned differently. It looks like the diet is manipulating...