Suitability of Fruits and Vegetables for Provision of Daily Requirement of Dietary Fiber Targets

The risk factors associated with low dietary fiber intake and the synergy with its role in colon prebiotic activity has stimulated a re-awakening in the scientific research. Dietary fiber intake has reduced all over the world, and so it has been labelled as a major shortfall nutrient of important in public health. Changes in lifestyle and improved standard of living have affected the diet of consumers in so many ways. Observation of these facts have spurred a special interest in the search for functional foods that contains essential nutrients like dietary fiber whose nutritional value improves the health of the consumer, enhances their physical and mental state and prevent lifestyle diseases. Fruits and vegetables are a modest source of total dietary fiber with nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, including polyphenols, which provide support for their biological plausibility and enhance their health benefits. This chapter therefore reviews existing literature on the utilization of fruits and vegetables as rich sources of fiber; their fiber concentration, their appropriateness in meeting the adequate fiber intake for daily consumption and their overlapping roles as a fiber source and as nutraceuticals.

New uses of Melatonin as a Drug, a Review

Melatonin is a simple compound with a proper chemical name N-acetyl-5-methoxy tryptamine and known as a hormone controlling circadian rhythm. Humans produce melatonin at night which is the reason for sleeping in the night and awakening over the day. Melatonin interacts with melatonin receptors MT1 and MT2 but it was also revealed that melatonin is a strong antioxidant and it also has a role in regulation of cell cycle. Currently, melatonin is used as a drug for some types of sleep disorder but the recent research points to the fact that melatonin can also serve for the other purposes including prophylaxis or therapy of lifestyle diseases, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and exposure to chemicals. This review summarizes basic facts and direction of the current research on melatonin. The actual literature was scrutinized for the purpose of this review.

An Analysis on Consumer Preference of Ayurvedic Products in Indian Market

With the growing awareness of lifestyle diseases and risk related to chemical-based products, there has been an increasing interest in green/natural products. The purpose of this study is to analyze the recent surge in the growth rate of Ayurved Market and to explore factors that are driving or inhibiting the said pattern. The study will use descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis to understand the factor influencing the consumer perception of Ayurvedic products. The study will also investigate the relation between the demographic factors and preference for Ayurvedic products. The study identifies the factors which influence the brand preferences and to know how these factors are further influenced by demographics. The result of the study indicates that the factors of trust and satisfaction have positive and significant impact on the brand preferences, whereas price has negative but insignificant influence on brand preferences. This study is an attempt to understand the role of Ayurved in food science as well as medical science.

Prevalence of Food Consumption and Diversification Among People having Lifestyle Diseases

Lifestyle diseases are the serious threat among adults. Most of the people in India aresuffering from more than one form of diseases mainly type II diabetes mellitus,hypertension, obesity, constipation etc. To combat this, one of the foremost ways is totake proper food at apparent time in adequate amount. For the study, 40 subjects (21male and 19 female) above 45 years were selected from Pusa block or university campuson the basis of occurrence of lifestyle diseases. Proper schedule was prepared consistingquestionnaire related to their general information, food habits, anthropometric details,physiological and biochemical parameters. Information collected through personal interview.Dietary intake of both the subjects was recorded by using 24 h dietary recall method for 2consecutive days. However, observed value of dietary nutrient (energy, protein, total fat,carbohydrates and sodium) intake were more than the recommended because ofoverconsumption. Therefore, only good nutrition and healthy lifestyle that is properbalanced diet, physical exercise, adequate sleep, reduced stress, well-adjusted biologicalclock, avoidance of fast and processed foods etc. will be followed by people regularlywhich helps to defeat the lifestyle consequences.

Lifestyle diseases: Health in the contemporary city

The article presents an overview of studies of the factors that affect health in the contemporary city. The increase in the urban population makes it necessary to analyze factors (environmental, social, etc.) and features of the urban structure in terms of their impact on the quality and standards of living. However, assessments of the city in the study of healthy lifestyle are contradictory. On the one hand, researchers emphasize the availability of medical care, effective fight against infectious diseases, and numerous attempts to transform the visual urban space. On the other hand, researchers stress the spatial inequality of the urban structure (for example, in access to health care), the spread of noncommunicable and lifestyle diseases in cities, the destruction of social ties and the problem of loneliness. Therefore, it is necessary to systematize the current research, identify the main risks of urban lifestyle, and discuss the role of social sciences in such interdisciplinary studies. The proposed typology of health research in the contemporary city is based on Yu.P. Lisitsyns ratio of factors that determine the level of health. Although many studies claim an integrated approach, the analysis showed that most of them present one of three approaches: the study of sanitary-hygienic features of the urban space (or its medical aspects); the study of ecology and architecture of the urban space; the study of social-psychological features of the urban lifestyle. The systematization of the main risks of the urban lifestyle allowed the author to identify the priority areas of its study. Thus, based on the features of the covid-19 pandemic in cities, the author argues that there is a need for more active participation of sociologists in the discussion of both infectious and non-communicable diseases, which should focus on social factors of their spread, course, prevention and control.

Association between Laughter and Lifestyle Diseases after the Great East Japan Earthquake: The Fukushima Health Management Survey

We investigated the association between the frequency of laughter and lifestyle diseases after the Great East Japan Earthquake. We included 41,432 participants aged 30–89 years in the Fukushima Health Management Survey in fiscal year 2012 and 2013. Gender-specific, age-adjusted and multivariable odds ratios of lifestyle diseases were calculated using logistic regressions stratified by evacuation status. Those who laugh every day had significantly lower multivariable odds ratios for hypertension (HT), diabetes mellitus (DM) and heart disease (HD) for men, and HT and dyslipidemia (DL) for women compared to those who do not, especially in male evacuees. The multivariable odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of HT, DM and HD (non-evacuees vs. evacuees) for men were 1.00 (0.89–1.11) vs. 0.85 (0.74–0.96), 0.90 (0.77–1.05) vs. 0.77 (0.64–0.91) and 0.92 (0.76–1.11) vs. 0.79 (0.63–0.99), and HT and DL for women were 0.90 (0.81–1.00) vs. 0.88 (0.78–0.99) and 0.80 (0.70–0.92) vs. 0.72 (0.62–0.83), respectively. The daily frequency of laughter was associated with a lower prevalence of lifestyle disease, especially in evacuees.

Vaccinium virgatum Aiton Leaves Extract Suppressed Lipid Accumulation and Uric Acid Production in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes

Blueberry (Vaccinium virgatum Aiton; Kinisato 35 Gou) leaves have recently attracted increasing attention as a useful material for the prevention of lifestyle diseases. Here, we examined the effects of the hot water extract of blueberry leaves (BLEx) on lipogenesis and uric acid production in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. The results showed that BLEx suppressed lipid accumulation and the mRNA expression of differentiation markers in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. A fractionation study showed that the highly polymerized proanthocyanidin-rich fraction was responsible for this effect. Upon maturation to adipocytes, 3T3-L1 cells produced uric acid and tumor necrosis factor-α, and hypoxia stimulated the production of uric acid and xanthine oxidoreductase activity. BLEx suppressed the production of uric acid under these conditions. Although BLEx inhibited the enzymatic activity of xanthine oxidase, this activity was observed in several fractions containing catechin, epicatechin, chlorogenic acid, rutin, and low molecular weight proanthocyanidins. Taken together, these results indicate that BLEx contains various compounds with the ability to suppress lipid accumulation and uric acid production in adipocytes.