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Digestive problems, including ulcers in one's food pipe or <keyword id="60887" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="stomach" source="Orion">stomach</keyword>, could increase the risk of <keyword id="77524" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="parkinsons-disease" source="Orion">Parkinson's disease</keyword> by 76 per cent, according to a new study. Analysing endoscopy reports of 9,350 patients, the authors found that people having upper gastrointestinal conditions -- specifically, ulcers or other types of damage to the lining of the oesophagus, stomach, or upper part of the small <keyword id="700917" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="intestine" source="Orion">intestine</keyword> -- were far more likely to develop Parkinson's <keyword id="6361612" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="disease" source="Orion">disease</keyword> later in life. <br /><br />These findings, published in the Journal of the <em>American Medical Association Network Open Researchers</em> add to a growing body of evidence that ageing-related or neurodegenerative disease, long thought to originate in the brain, could begin in the gut. <br /><br />Gastrointestinal problems are known to be common in patients suffering from neurodegenerative disorders, the authors said. <br /><br />The researchers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, US, said that gastrointestinal troubles experienced by patients of Parkinson's disease often appear up to two decades before symptoms such as tremors or stiffness in arms or legs, which interfere with one's movement and are usually the grounds for diagnosis. <br /><br />They said that digestive issues can involve constipation, drooling, difficulty in swallowing and a delayed emptying of the stomach. <br /><br />Constipation and difficulty in swallowing were strong risk factors related with a more than doubling of Parkinson's disease risk, the authors said. <br /><br />One of the possible biological mechanisms underlying these relationships between the gut and risk of Parkinson's disease could be problems in regulating dopamine, a brain chemical known to play a key role in digestion, they said. <br /><br />The authors also proposed that gastrointestinal conditions could trigger the building up of the protein 'alpha-synuclein', which is how Parkinson's disease presents in the brain. <br /><br />Future research could help understand these mechanisms better, they added.

Gastro problems could heighten Parkinson's disease risk by 76%, study finds

<keyword id="19901584" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Saif-Ali-Khan" source="keywords">Saif Ali Khan</keyword>, Jr. NTR and <keyword id="19911182" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Janhvi-Kapoor" source="keywords">Janhvi Kapoor</keyword> recently appeared on The<em> Great Indian Kapil Show</em> to promote their upcoming film <em>Devara</em>. Bits of the episode have been making rounds online and a certain clip caught our attention.<br /><br />In one of the clips from the show, Saif is seen explaining to the audience that he has stopped consuming <em>parathas </em>ever since his blood tests revealed that he was allergic to milk and bread.<br />   <div type="Youtube" id="YgOa2Zpig1Q" title="Triple the Laughter: Jr. NTR, Saif, Janhvi | The Great Indian Kapil Show | Bacha Hua Content" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YgOa2Zpig1Q/mqdefault.jpg"><url><![CDATA[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgOa2Zpig1Q]]></url></div>His co-star Janhvi responded saying, “<em>Yeh sab faaltu ke allergy test hote hain. Hum sab itne sadiyon se doodh, maida-vaida sab khaate aa rahe hain</em>” (all these allergy tests are nonsense. We have been drinking milk and consuming flour for ages).<br /><br />While this may have been the young actor’s mostly harmless attempt at sounding relatable, gluten and <keyword id="20158013" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lactose-intolerance" source="keywords">lactose intolerance</keyword> is a real health concern for millions of Indians. And taking these tests is among the most recommended ways to understand and alter our diets.<br /><h2>Gluten allergy is not new in India, gluten is!</h2>A gluten allergy, often referred to as <keyword id="22227619" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gluten-intolerance" source="keywords">gluten intolerance</keyword> or non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), is a condition where the immune system reacts negatively to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Unlike celiac disease, gluten sensitivity does not cause damage to the small intestine, but it can trigger uncomfortable symptoms such as bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, fatigue and headaches after consuming gluten-containing foods — such as bread.<br /><br />When asked if more and more Indians were reporting gluten allergies, nutritionist Dr Meghana Pasi explained that it wasn’t entirely true.<br /><br />“An increase in the Indians’ wheat consumption was a result of colonisation”, she said. Most Indians primarily consumed millet before the British’s influence and wheat became a staple in our diets roughly between 50-100 years ago. And it has taken a few decades to associate the discomfort many feel after consuming wheat with a gluten allergy.<br /><br />So, claiming that gluten consumption is perfectly okay since people in the past did it too, is infact entirely inaccurate.<br /><h2>A significant proportion of Indians are lactose intolerant</h2>After Janhvi implies that these allergies are a hoax, Saif attempts to correct her saying, “<em>Hum jab bade ho jate hai to sab cheezein nahi khani chahiye, bacho ko khani chhaiye </em>( We should refrain from eating certain things when we get older; kids should eat all of this).” <br /><br />In response Janhvi says, "<em>Main toh doodh peeti hun </em>(I still drink milk).” Anecdotal fallacy again. <em>Sigh</em>.<br /><br />Lactose intolerance is a digestive condition where the body is unable to fully digest lactose, the sugar found in milk and dairy products. This happens when the small intestine doesn't produce enough of the enzyme lactase, which is needed to break down lactose into simpler sugars for absorption.<br /><br />As a result, lactose passes undigested into the colon, where bacteria ferment it, causing symptoms like bloating, diarrhoea, gas and stomach cramps. The severity of symptoms varies, depending on how much lactose a person can tolerate. This author, for instance, needs just one pizza slice to develop a terrible gastric headache that leads to violent episodes of puking.<br /><br />Regarding her claim that we have been consuming milk for ages, India has seen a notable rise in lactose intolerance as dietary patterns evolve. Studies suggest that one-third of Indians may have some degree of lactose intolerance due to genetic factors.<br /><br />Historically, the diet in many parts of India included fermented or low-lactose dairy products like yogurt and paneer, which are easier to digest. However, the growing consumption of milk-based products and <keyword id="20490015" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="processed-foods" source="keywords">processed foods</keyword> may be contributing to more visible cases of lactose intolerance.<br /><br />Furthermore, even without the intolerance debate, science has shown that humans’ capacity to absorb milk decreases as we grow old. By the time we’re in our mid-thirties, these problems can manifest as gastrointestinal problems like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and gastro-esophagal reflux disease (GERD).<br /><br />So, while Janhvi Kapoor's casual dismissal of gluten and lactose allergies may have been made in jest, it brought forth a good opportunity to discuss a larger issue of misinformation about <keyword id="23476473" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="dietary-sensitivities" source="keywords">dietary sensitivities</keyword>. As allergies and intolerances become more widely understood and recognised, particularly in the Indian context, it’s important to acknowledge that the foods we’ve consumed for generations may no longer suit everyone. <br /><br />Of late, many celebrities like Janhvi, who boast millions of followers, have been caught spreading health-related misinformation intentionally or unintentionally. Despite their access to the best nutritionists and doctors, such misguided statements show blatant disregard for public health.<br />  <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="111515126" title="Samantha Ruth Prabhu faces heavy backlash after recommending hydrogen peroxide inhalation to cure viral fever" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Instead, as a society, we should aim to foster a more nuanced understanding of how individual bodies react to different foods over time and the role modern science plays in identifying these sensitivities. In an era of growing health awareness, informed conversations around food intolerances can lead to better lifestyle choices for many.<br />

Janhvi Kapoor thinks allergy tests for gluten and milk are ‘faaltu’. Here's why she might be misinformed.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The shortage of <keyword id="11908491" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="baby" source="Orion">baby</keyword> formula in the US has triggered a crisis among parents.</li><li>The demand for the product vastly outweighs supply at the moment.</li></ul><p>When Kelly Bernarducci read that the formula she'd been feeding her premature baby had been <a href="https://www.insider.com/more-infant-formula-recalled-after-another-baby-dies-2022-3">recalled</a>, she checked the batch number of the cans in her kitchen.</p><p>"Every single one was part of the recall," she said.</p><p>Days before the discovery in February, the Ossining, New York, mom had taken her daughter, Logan — who was born six weeks early — to the hospital because of her acute digestive problems.</p><p>The 33-year-old mom told Insider that she was concerned that Alimentum, the formula she'd been using, may have caused Logan's difficulties. It was one of three powdered brands recalled by their manufacturer, Abbott Nutrition.</p><p>The firm took the drastic measure after the Food and Drug Administration found that one of Abbott's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/baby-formula-recall-impacts-some-similac-alimentum-elecare-products-2022-2">facilities</a> was unsanitary.</p><p>The FDA advised consumers to not use the powdered form of Alimentum, Similac, or Elecare following reports of bacterial infections among children who had consumed them. Two of the products have since been linked to the <a href="https://www.insider.com/more-infant-formula-recalled-after-another-baby-dies-2022-3">deaths</a> of two babies.</p><p>"I called Logan's gastro specialist, who said it made a lot of sense as to why she was having the issues," Bernarducci said about her infant's sickness. "It felt like we'd been poisoning her."</p><div type="image" title="Dad Brian Bernaducci feeds his premature daughter, Logan, with a specialized formula when she was just five days old." height="1137" width="1512" msid="91449666" hostid="261"></div><p>She told Insider that Logan's gastroenterologist had not confirmed her suspicions, but she believes that the recalled formula was behind her daughter's <keyword id="11894571" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health" source="Orion">health</keyword> concerns.</p><p>But Bernarducci is now facing another problem. There is a shortage of the replacement formula Logan's doctor recommended. "It's been so hard to find," Bernarducci said.  She has become increasingly worried that she will not be able to ensure that Logan's nutritional needs are met in the future.</p><p>Bernarducci is among hundreds of thousands of parents the US shortage has affected so far.</p><h2>Issues with the supply chain and recalls of certain brands have caused the shortage </h2><p>Manufacturers are having trouble sourcing key ingredients and packaging. They've also had difficulties recruiting people to staff their factories due to the labor shortage. The situation has become so bad that stores such as CVS and Walgreens have imposed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/target-walgreens-kroger-cvs-limiting-baby-formula-purchases-2022-4">limits </a>on the amount of formula that customers can buy at one time.</p><p>The crisis is particularly worrying for parents whose babies have food allergies or must be tube-fed.</p><p>Alison Zanella, who lives near Detroit, told Insider that she can't find enough formula to feed her 5-year-old son, Dominic.</p><p>Zanella said Dominic has a rare form of neuromuscular disease. As a result, he needs to be fed formula four times a day through a gastronomy tube attached to his abdomen. The kindergartener is also allergic to foods such as dairy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, and tree nuts. The combination of his genetic condition and allergies means he can tolerate only one type of formula. The brand, Neocate, is one of those that has been affected by the shortage. </p><div type="image" title="Mom Alison Zanella with her five-year-old son, Dominic, who is tube-fed a specialized formula four times a day." height="2274" width="3024" msid="91449669" hostid="261"></div><p>Zanella first became aware of the issue in March when the family's medical-supply company broke the news that the formula was on indefinite back order.</p><p>"It completely took us by surprise," she said. "We'd had problems in the past because of shipping delays but this was very concerning because we only had two days' worth of formula left."</p><p>She contacted Dominic's gastroenterologist to ask for help. According to Zanella, a nurse told her that at least 120 other patients were in the same position and that they would have to place Dominic at the bottom of the list for any formula that became available.</p><p> "I said to the nurse, 'So what am I supposed to feed him?'" Zanella recalled. "And she said, 'Sugar water and Pedialyte.' I panicked internally."</p><p>But Zanella was determined to find a solution. She reached out to Dominic's nutritionist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, who managed to arrange a shipment of a similar formula to be sent to them. "It's a bigger hospital, so they have more resources," Zanella said.</p><p>Dominic is getting by with the new formula, but, according to Zanella, his doctors believe the switch may have caused a recent bout of stomach problems. "They said they would try and get him off of the formula altogether," she said. "But nobody knows whether it will work."</p><h2>Parents are wondering how they will feed their babies</h2><p>Lia Daley, whose 5-month-old son, DJ, can only be fed with hypoallergenic formula, is also worried about the shortage.</p><p>The formula she started using after DJ was diagnosed with a milk allergy was among the products Abbott Nutrition recalled. She tried some alternative brands, but said her son suffered a range of stomach issues as a result.</p><div type="image" title="Lia Daly with her five-month-old son, Dominic, whose milk allergy means he needs a certain formula that is in short supply." height="621" width="828" msid="91449672" hostid="261"></div><p>"His reflux was very bad to the point where he would choke," Daley said. "He'd struggle to breathe and we got really scared. It was very hard to see."</p><p>Next, DJ's pediatrician switched him to a specialized formula called Nutramigen. Daley, of Dobbs Ferry, New York, told Insider that DJ's gastronomic problems soon abated.</p><p>However, since Nutramigen is in short supply, the mom has had to scour the shelves of local pharmacies and grocery stores in a desperate bid to find the product. She has visited a number of stores in her area to try and locate even just one or two cans of the powder.</p><p>"There's way more demand than supply," Daley told Insider. "It's incredibly stressful. When your baby has a milk allergy, you heavily rely on the formula they're doing well on."</p><p>It's not only the parents of children with allergies or other specific needs who are battling to cope with the shortage.</p><p>Jessica Booth, of Long Island, New York, said her 5-month-old daughter, Angelina, doesn't have special dietary requirements, but she still can't find enough bottles of Similac 360 Advance Line, the formula that her baby is used to.</p><p>"It's stressful enough being a new mom, whether it's your first, second, third child, or whatever, but this is an extra layer of stress," said Booth, who has long been searching for the product online and in stores such as Target.</p><p>The 34-year-old freelance writer used to supplement Angelina's formula with breast milk as a means of making it last longer. But, she said, she had to stop pumping because she was not producing enough milk and the process had became painful.</p><div type="image" title="Jessica Booth feeds her baby, Angelina, with one of the formulas that are in short supply." height="2274" width="3024" msid="91449673" hostid="261"></div><p>Booth said that she's been unable to find any information on the manufacturers' websites as to when the formula shortage might be resolved.</p><p>"It's incredibly frustrating," she said. "I just want to be able to know that I can feed my baby."</p>

The nationwide formula shortage is making parents despair — 'I just want to be able to know that I can feed my baby'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The low residue diet is a diet designed for people with digestive problems like IBD or colitis. </li><li>Low residue diet foods include liquids, canned or cooked fruits and vegetables, and processed carbs.</li><li>The low residue diet differs from low-fiber <keyword id="39418" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Diets">diets</keyword> because it also cuts out some meat and dairy. </li></ul><p>The low residue diet is not meant to help you lose weight. Instead, it's supposed to help heal your gut. </p><p>The word "residue" here refers to the undigested food that makes up the bulk of stool. Therefore, the goal of a low-residue diet is to reduce the size and frequency of your bowel movements.</p><p><a href="https://med.virginia.edu/ginutrition/wp-content/uploads/sites/199/2014/06/Parrish-July-15.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Doctors often prescribe</a> a low residue diet for people with digestive problems like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn's disease, and colitis. But recent research calls into question whether this approach actually helps.</p><p>Here's what you need to know about low residue diets.</p><h2>What to eat on the low residue diet</h2><p>Low residue foods are usually thoroughly cooked so that they break down easily in your body. Here is a list of <a href="https://medicine.umich.edu/sites/default/files/content/downloads/LowFiberLowResidueDiet.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">do's and don'ts</a> for the low residue diet according to the University of Michigan's Bowel Control Program.</p><h3><strong>Foods allowed:</strong></h3><ul><li><strong>Liquids:</strong> Clear fluids and broth or strained fruit and vegetables juices</li><li><strong>Grains:</strong> Processed <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-are-carbs">carbohydrates</a> like enriched white bread, puffed rice, grits, white rice, and pasta, as well as  skinless</li><li><strong>Fruits and veggies: </strong>Canned or cooked fruits and vegetables and strained fruit and vegetable juices</li></ul><p>And depending on your specific needs you may also be able to eat:</p><ul><li><strong>Meat and protein:</strong> Eggs, cooked fished, and well-cooked, ground meat - it can be beef, lamb, pork, or poultry</li><li><strong>Dairy: </strong>Yogurt, custard, ice cream, cottage cheese</li></ul><h3><strong>Foods not allowed:</strong></h3><ul><li><strong>Grains</strong>: Whole grain bread, brown rice, wild rice, buckwheat, cornbread, bread or cereals with nuts or seeds</li><li><strong>Fruits and veggies: </strong>Raw fruits and veggies, prune juice, coconut, dried fruit, all berries, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, corn, and baked beans</li><li><strong>Meat and protein: </strong>Legumes, nuts, seeds, and fibrous meats with gristle</li><li><strong>Dairy: </strong>Yogurt with nuts and seeds</li><li><strong>Desserts and snack foods: </strong>Pickled foods, popcorn, jam, and other fruit preserves</li></ul><p><strong>Quick tip:</strong> Don't see food here you're wondering about? For a more comprehensive list, visit the <a href="https://medicine.umich.edu/sites/default/files/content/downloads/LowFiberLowResidueDiet.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Michigan Health System's guide</a>.</p><h2>Low residue vs. low fiber</h2><p>On a low residue diet, you're recommended to eat no more than 10 to 15 grams of <a href="https://www.insider.com/fiber-benefits" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fiber</a> per day. For comparison, <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> recommendations call for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6124841/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25 to 38 grams</a> of fiber each day.</p><p>Because of the low fiber intake, people often use a low residue diet and a low-fiber diet interchangeably. But they're not synonymous. </p><p>Low-fiber diets focus only on cutting out high fiber foods. Whereas low residue diets aim to reduce fiber and also cut down on <a href="https://med.virginia.edu/ginutrition/wp-content/uploads/sites/199/2014/06/Parrish-July-15.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anything that can increase your bowel movements</a>, which, for some people, can include low-fiber foods like meat and dairy.</p><p>Regardless, both low residue and low fiber diets are meant to put the least amount of strain possible on your digestive tract.</p><p>The foods you eat on either diet, like white rice, cooked vegetables, and fish, should move slowly through your digestive tract. And this slower movement usually means less waste, fewer bowel movements, and <a href="https://www.medicinenet.com/low_residue_and_low_fiber_diet/article.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reduced cramping, bloating, and gas</a>. </p><h2>The low residue diet can help with bowel disease</h2><p>The low residue diet is a short-term plan to give your digestive system a break from breaking down hard-to-digest foods.</p><p>"It is not recommended to be lifelong in most cases," says Lori Welstead, a dietician who works in gastroenterology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. </p><p><a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/low-fiber-diet/art-20048511" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Mayo Clinic</a> recommends following the low fiber diet only as long as you are having symptoms like diarrhea. Once your symptoms have improved, you can start slowly reintroducing fiber into your diet.</p><p>However, research is divided on whether a low fiber diet is truly helpful for all types of inflammatory conditions. </p><p>For example, a 2016 <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1542356515017139" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> found that among patients in remission, avoiding fiber was linked to an increased risk of flare-ups for people with Crohn's disease.</p>Related Article Module: How to tell if you have IBD and the difference between Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis<p>In addition, a 2014 <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ibdjournal/article/20/3/576/4579038" target="_blank" rel="noopener">review</a> of 23 studies found that overall, there is no evidence to support restricting fiber when treating IBD.</p><p>And <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408398.2012.760515" target="_blank" rel="noopener">other studies</a> have found similar results, suggesting that diets that cut out specific foods like gluten or legumes worked better for IBD than a low-fiber diet.</p><h2>The low-residue diet and GI procedure prep</h2><p>If you've ever had a colonoscopy and dreaded the preparation, the low-residue diet might help abate some discomfort. Traditionally, patients who are going in for a GI procedure are told that they must stick to a clear liquid diet the day before. </p><p>But a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6445600/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">number of studies</a> have shown that a low-residue diet may be <a href="https://www.giejournal.org/article/S0016-5107(17)31016-7/abstract" target="_blank" rel="noopener">just as effective at colon preparation</a> while vastly improving <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31482360" target="_blank" rel="noopener">patient satisfaction.</a> If you're going in for a GI procedure, ask your doctor if you can swap water and broth for more filling, low-residue options.</p><h2>A daily meal plan on the low residue diet<strong> </strong></h2><p><strong>Breakfast:</strong></p><ul><li>Refined cereal like cream of wheat</li><li>Eggs</li><li>Clear fruit juice or water</li></ul><p><strong>Lunch:</strong></p><ul><li>Grilled chicken sandwich on a white bread bun</li><li>Salad with lettuce, cooked beets, and olive oil</li></ul><p><strong>Snacks:</strong></p><ul><li>Yogurt</li><li>Pretzels</li></ul><p><strong>Dinner:</strong></p><ul><li>Baked salmon </li><li>Cooked vegetables like spinach, green beans, and carrots</li><li>Baked potato without the skin with a dollop of sour cream </li></ul><h2>Low-fiber diets aren't meant to last</h2><p>The low residue diet is not the only diet out there that can help with gastrointestinal symptoms. The following other diets can be used to help control diarrhea in the short term, but none of them are long-term solutions. </p><ul><li>The <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-is-the-brat-diet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BRAT</a> (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast) diet is meant to help your body recover from symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea, usually from a stomach bug. Because it's so restrictive, you should only follow it for<a href="https://www.middleburyfamilyhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/brat-diet201404171335381.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> one to two days</a>.</li><li>The <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-is-a-low-fodmap-diet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">low FODMAP</a> (Fermentable, Oligo, Disaccharides, and Polyols) diet limits certain types of carbohydrates that can cause gastro symptoms like gas, bloating, and diarrhea, Welstead says. However, this diet is used more as a diagnostic tool than a long-term meal plan. "The low FODMAP diet is only recommended for a short period to determine what foods are trigger foods," Welstead says.</li></ul><h2>Insider's takeaway </h2><p>Welstead warns that sticking to a restrictive diet like the low residue diet can cause deficiencies in vitamin or protein levels. "For most patients, they are able to transition to a normal diet over time," Welstead adds.</p><p>That's why you should speak with a registered dietitian before starting any of these diets, including the low residue diet.</p><a data-type="60de2c500cf12a5c94557d19">The GOLO diet is a low-calorie meal plan with a special supplement - here's whether it works for weight loss</a><a data-type="608c51e73966fa7648153a4a">4 unexpected benefits of taking probiotics including improving depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular health</a><a data-type="5e4eadd381a9aa6e06051958">Can you overdose on probiotics? Side effects include bloating and gas</a><a data-type="6079f47ab4ed6f19336342b9">How long it takes to digest your food and 5 tips to improve the process</a>

How to start a low residue diet to improve gut health

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Climate change is likely to put stress on our agricultural system and cause severe food shortages in the future.</li><li>Behavioral scientist Magnus Söderlund recently suggested that because of this, people might one day consider eating human flesh.</li><li>In 2018, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins put forth a similar idea. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Last week, behavioral scientist Magnus Söderlund posed a controversial question at a seminar in Sweden: Can you imagine eating human flesh?</p><p>As global temperatures continue to rise, Söderlund said in a talk at the Gastro Summit in Stockholm, the consequences for agriculture could cause food to become more scarce, which might force humans to consider alternative forms of nourishment.</p><p>Those sources might include insects like grasshoppers or worms, but they could also include corpses, Söderlund said. By gradually getting accustomed to the taste of our own flesh, he added, humans might come to view cannibalism as less taboo. </p><p>Söderlund, a behavioral scientist at the Stockholm School of Economics, doesn't research nutrition <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> or the economics of our global food supply. He studies psychological reactions, like the <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/swedish-researcher-pushes-human-flesh-eating-as-answer-to-future-climate-change-food-shortages_3068833.html">audible groan from attendees</a> when they were asked whether they'd consider eating a corpse. </p><p>"I'd be open to at least tasting it," Söderlund later told the <a href="https://www.tv4.se/efter-fem/klipp/forskaren-unders%C3%B6ker-m%C3%B6jligheten-att-%C3%A4ta-m%C3%A4nniskok%C3%B6tt-finns-m%C3%A5nga-tabun-12496854">State Swedish Television channel TV4</a>. </p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-made-neanderthals-cannibals-2019-4">Nibbled-on bones found in a cave revealed that our Neanderthal ancestors ate each other. Scientists may have figured out why.</a></em></p><p>The idea of using cannibalism to supplement our food supply isn't new. In 2018, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins wondered if it would be possible to <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/969939225180364805">grow meat from harvested human cells</a> in a laboratory. </p><p>Like Söderlund, he called the idea "an interesting test case" that might demonstrate whether humans could overcome the "yuck" factor in order to do something they considered moral, like reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.  </p><p>But of course, the suggestion of cannibalism is rife with problems. Genevieve Guenther, director of <a href="https://www.endclimatesilence.org/">End Climate Silence</a>, a nonprofit that advocates for more representation of climate change in the media, told Business Insider  that "to suggest that cannibalism is a solution to climate change is about as bad as climate denial itself."</p><p>She added: "I don't think that it should be even entertained in any seriousness, but exposed as a kind of propaganda that only makes it harder for us to transform the world in the ways that we need to."</p><h2>'Our whole culture would descend into barbarism'</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>For Dawkins and Söderlund, cannibalism could be a way to prepare for a future in which supplies of some major food staples are wiped out. As climate-related disasters like floods, droughts, and extreme heat continue to get more frequent and extreme, agricultural producers will find it more difficult to grow crops. In less than a decade, the world could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-food-crisis-tackled-gro-intelligence-2018-12">fall short of feeding every person on the planet</a> by 214 trillion calories per year, or about 28,000 calories per person.</p><p>Söderlund's suggestion involves removing flesh from a corpse and serving it to humans, while Dawkins raised the possibility of taking stem cells from a living human, culturing them in a lab, and allowing the mature cells to grow into meat.</p><p>But there are myriad ethical problems to consider with either of these options, of course.</p><p>"The idea that we would be able to administer this in any kind of rational, systemic way is so absurd," Guenther said. "It would mean our whole culture would descend into barbarism."</p><p>Plus, there are many more straightforward, less grotesque ways to ensure we have enough food in the future.</p><p><a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/">A recent report</a> from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that a quarter of all food worldwide is lost or wasted. By improving the way food is harvested, stored, packaged, and transported, the report said, producers could address food shortages. </p><p>Dramatically reducing global emissions would also help the world avoid a future of high temperatures and more extreme weather conditions that make it difficult for farmers to grow food. </p><p>The IPCC report found that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/food-system-role-in-climate-crisis-possible-solutions-2019-8">the way we use land</a>, through practices like farming, mining, logging, accounts for 23% of human-produced greenhouse-gas emissions. Reducing deforestation and tilling could help lower these emissions, as could reducing red meat consumption, the report found. </p><h2>Climate change drove our early ancestors to cannibalism</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>Cannibalism has severe health risks for humans. <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/09/06/482952588/when-people-ate-people-a-strange-disease-emerged">A fatal disease</a> linked to the practice of cooking dead bodies and eating them at funerals affected members of a tribe in Papua New Guinea until about 2009.</p><p>But climate change likely drove human ancestors to cannibalism before.</p><p>More than than 100,000 years ago, the world saw a dramatic spike in global temperatures that wiped out large mammal species like bison, reindeer, and mammoths. The period of rapid warming left some Neanderthals in Western Europe without a consistent food source, so they most likely <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-made-neanderthals-cannibals-2019-4">resorted to eating each other</a>, according to a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440318304680?via%3Dihub">study published</a> in April. </p><p>Still, Guenther said, by the time modern societies ever consider resorting to cannibalism, human society might already be in shambles because of climate change. </p><p>"If we come to the point where we're looking at human corpses for food sources, we're going to have larger problems on our hands," Guenther said. "It will mean that we failed to mitigate the climate crisis."</p>

A Swedish scientist suggested the climate crisis could lead people to consider eating human flesh. It's not the first time a scientist has suggested the idea.

<div type="image" title="Janice Martellucci" height="1335" width="1780" msid="77790222" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Janice Martellucci is the managing director and lead teacher for Peace in Schools, a nonprofit that brings mindfulness education to public schools in Portland, Oregon. </li><li>Martellucci teaches mindfulness courses, helping students become more present and less anxious. The classes even help students process trauma.</li><li>Martellucci told Insider that she sees mindfulness improving students' and teachers' lives every day, and that LGBTQ+ and students who have experienced trauma are opting into and benefiting from the program the most.</li><li>"I don't think it's an overstatement to say that mindfulness saves lives," Martellucci said.</li><li><strong>Martellucci is on Insider's list of Doers: 25 trailblazers creating hope and inspiring us. Check out the full list <a href="https://www.insider.com/doers-list-trailblazers-creating-hope-and-inspiring-2020-8#alok-vaid-menon-29-is-challenging-myths-about-gender-in-fashion-1">here</a>.</strong></li></ul><p>The first thing you see when you walk into one of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/janicemartellucci/">Janice Martellucci's</a> classrooms is a group of teenagers sitting on the floor in a circle. They've come from an academic class and tossed aside backpacks full of geometry homework to settle in on yoga mats and cushions.</p><p>"We begin with a mindful minute, which is basically a brief meditation," Martellucci, the managing director and lead teacher for the nonprofit organization <a href="https://www.peaceinschools.org/">Peace in Schools</a>, told Insider. At 31, Martellucci's long hair and freckled face exudes a youthful energy that's hard to miss.</p><p>"Then we do a check-in and go around the circle. It's a big way that we build trust throughout the courses — just everyone getting a chance to be seen and heard without any requirements to share," she said.</p><h2>Peace in Schools, which has been around since 2014, created the country's first for-credit high-school mindfulness course.</h2><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/what-is-mindfulness">Mindfulness</a> is a practice of intentionally living in the present. Practitioners use breathing exercises, yoga, and meditation to process their feelings and experiences without judgment. It's proved to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23541163/">alleviate anxiety</a> and can even help people <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25365778/">better deal with pain</a>.</p><p>The sense of trust created in Peace in Schools classrooms is even more important now, as the staff tries to help students process things happening in the world around them — the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> pandemic, for example, and the recent Black Lives Matter protests. </p><p>"If something happens in the community or the world, we integrate it into our classes," Martellucci said. The courses give students a space to process the complex emotions they have about how these events impact them. Mindfulness can help to ground them when the external world feels out of their control.</p><p>"Right now, teens have nothing to hang on to," she said, pointing to the uncertainty of our current moment. "If we look outwards, there's nothing to make us feel stable, safe, secure, or optimistic about the future. So the class is really about how we access the safety of our own selves." </p><h2>Martellucci came to mindfulness in 2010, during what she calls her quarter-life crisis.</h2><p>Her father was sick with cancer, she was having <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> problems of her own, and she had just fallen in love with a woman — who is now her wife — after 20 years of thinking she was straight.</p><p>"It was this period in my life where all of who I thought that I was and all the things that I had used to cope were changing, and it wasn't working anymore," she said.</p><p>Her initial reaction to all the change was anger. "I had no models of how to be with pain in a way that didn't create more of it for myself or for others," she said.</p><div type="image" title="Janice Martellucci" height="2667" width="2000" msid="77790226" hostid="261"></div><p>After she had a breakdown one night, a friend suggested she try mindfulness, and she decided to give it a chance. She agreed to go to a yoga class in Sacramento, California, where she met Caverly Morgan, who went on to found Peace in Schools. Morgan's presence and approach to the class moved Martellucci.</p><p>"It was the first moment that I thought and felt something that was possible that I didn't know was possible," she said.</p><p>Martellucci ended up studying under Morgan, meeting with her weekly to develop her mindfulness practices. She went on monthlong and weeklong silent retreats and participated in regimented formal training to fully embrace mindfulness. </p><p>Today, she said, her practice manifests in the way she treats her relationships and herself.</p><p>"It's no longer that I insert mindfulness practice into my life," she said. "It's that my entire life is a stage for my mindfulness practice."</p><p>She joined Peace in Schools as a staff member in 2015.</p><p>"When this opportunity came up, I jumped on it because it combined my two greatest passions: working in education with youths and mindfulness practice," Martellucci said. She also works with <a href="https://www.presencecollective.org/">Presence Collective</a>, a community group that hosts events, speaking engagements, and mindfulness sessions with the intention of dismantling white supremacy and other forms of oppression. </p><p>"I don't think it's an overstatement to say that mindfulness saves lives," Martellucci said.</p><h2>Having courses available during the normal weekday is an important part of the mission of Peace in Schools.</h2><p>"Our mission is essentially to make the tools of well-being accessible to all," Martellucci said. "What better way to do that than to do it from inside the public education system?"</p><p>Martellucci is glad mindfulness became part of her life when she was struggling, but she wishes she had access to it when she was a teenager. "I just would have loved the opportunity to love myself sooner," she said.</p><p>The program operates only out of Portland, Oregon, at the moment, but the organization hopes to become a nationwide endeavor at some point, according to Martellucci. </p><p>Since it was founded, the organization has grown to offer mindfulness meetups for teens and courses for educators in addition to its in-school programming, with Martellucci overseeing the teen and adult programs. The organization's mindfulness classes are available in nine public schools in Portland and reached 2,857 teens in the 2019-20 school year, according to its <a href="https://www.peaceinschools.org/about-us">website</a>.</p><h2>Each mindfulness lesson has a verbal and physical portion, and yoga is often part of the coursework.</h2><p>The classes vary, but there are common themes throughout them, such as a focus on community.</p><div type="image" title="yoga" height="2336" width="3114" msid="77790230" hostid="261"></div><p>"Mindfulness can get a bad rap sometimes because it's perceived as just very individual, isolated practice, which it can be," Martellucci said. "But it's really important to us that it's relational and that we're connecting it to their lives, so we're connecting it to larger structures in society."</p><p>Peace in Schools has tangible evidence their programming helps students. According to <a href="https://www.peaceinschools.org/mindfulness-research">research</a> produced in partnership with Johns Hopkins University, students had a higher interest in attending school and were less anxious after taking mindfulness courses.</p><p>The classes have transitioned online since the advent of the pandemic and look a bit different, but the general setup is the same. A lesson still starts with a mindful minute, there's a check-in for the group, and the curriculum incorporates yoga.</p><p>Now, however, the instructors have deviated from their planned lessons to help students deal with the new problems they've found themselves facing during the pandemic — like feelings of isolation and anxiety about the future. Courses in the fall will be designed specifically to help students process trauma.</p><p>Martellucci can see the classes making life a bit easier for students as they struggle with online learning and the unknowns of their futures. One of the program's students <a href="https://www.peaceinschools.org/blog-content/2020/7/14/teen-mindfulness-covid-19">wrote a blog post about her mindfulness courses amid the pandemic</a>.</p><p>"Mindfulness taught me how to cope and know that it's OK to feel the things I feel," the student wrote. "The schedule in our mindfulness class was shortened and different, but not any less helpful. In fact it is more important than ever right now. Mindfulness and meditation helped me through a really hard time, and it is helping me again." </p><h2>Martellucci hopes that mindfulness education can help people with their sense of self-worth and empathy.</h2><p>"If we were in touch with everyone's inherent value and how we are connected intimately forever and always, and if we acted on behalf of that understanding, just imagine how different all of the moments, small and huge, would be," she said. </p><p>She said she gets glimpses of what that life could be like when she's with her 1-year-old son, and through her work. </p><p>"At the end of the day, we all want the same thing," Martellucci said. "We want to be seen. We want to be heard. We want to feel like we belong. We want to love and be loved."</p><p>You can learn more about Peace in Schools <a href="https://www.peaceinschools.org/">here</a>, and you can follow Martellucci on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/janicemartellucci/">Instagram</a>.</p><p><strong>Read more:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/doers-list-trailblazers-creating-hope-and-inspiring-2020-8">The Doers: 25 trailblazers creating hope and inspiring us</a></p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/the-doers-activist-raquel-willis-black-trans-lives-2020-8">Meet Raquel Willis, the activist who made history with a powerful speech for Black trans lives in front of 15,000 people — and won't stop until the world is listening</a></p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/the-doers-lester-walker-empowerment-food-inclusion-ghetto-gastro-2020-8">Ghetto Gastro's Lester Walker, a former chef at NYC's top Michelin-starred restaurants, is using deals with Nike and Cartier to donate 150,000 meals a week to families in need</a></p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/the-doers-teenager-alexandria-villaseor-fighting-climate-change-2020-8">15-year-old Alexandria Villaseñor watched the deadliest fire in California's history burn through entire towns. Now she's leading a 'battle cry' for global action on climate change.</a></p>

Janice Martellucci teaches teens the importance of mindfulness. In the midst of a global health issue, mass protests, and catastrophic natural disasters, it's more crucial than ever.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">The shareholders came with this little girl's gust and then some.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Valeant Pharmaceuticals had its annual shareholder meeting in Leval, Canada on Tuesday and, as is custom, after the company's presentation the floor was opened up to questions from shareholders.</p><p>The shareholders, few though they were, came impressively prepared. They asked tough questions that new CEO Joe Papa was forced to skirt in typical smooth CEO fashion.</p><p>They asked about why they hadn't heard more about the scandal that brought Valeant's stock careening down 90% since October. They asked questions about the company's accounting and its issues with regulators over its drug pricing practices.</p><p>Papa's responses to them were canned at the very best.</p><p>After platitudes about how Walgreen's has been a <span>"good partner so far" to the company, and after praising Valeant's product line and a reframed commitment to its R&amp;D pipeline, it seemed like</span> Papa is still a little stumped about what's next for the company.</p><h2>Debt and distribution</h2><p>But first, lets talk about the presentation. There were two big takeaways there. The first was that Valeant is going to try to pay down a ton of debt, and fast. The company plans to use $1.7 billion to do so in 2016. Papa said debt reduction is <span>"important to the future of the company," which jibes with the Bloomberg report that Valeant just contracted Morgan Stanley to help it sell <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-14/valeant-said-to-hire-morgan-stanley-to-sell-dermatology-assets">some of its dermatology assets</a>. </span></p><p><span>Papa didn't rule out selling more assets either, but he's walking a fine line. T</span>he company's projected earnings for 2016 of $4.8-$4.95 billion already put it in danger of falling <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2016-06-07/valeant-walks-knife-s-edge-of-debt-limits-with-forecast-cut">below thresh holds it has to meet </a>in order to comply with creditor agreements.</p><p><span>The other big issue in the presentation was Xifaxin. It's a drug used to treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) that Valeant projected would be a $1 billion product this year. Well, it looks like it's not going to, and Papa is focused on ramping up its sale to the 10%-15% of American adults who suffer from IBS and other gastro issues it treats. No plan was laid out for doing that, but one thing is for sure, it's going to cost money.</span></p><h2><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Valeant</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Leval, Canada on a Tuesday morning</span></h2><p>Now for the questions. There weren't many, but they were of pretty high quality. For example, right out of the gate, the first shareholder asked about how much goodwill Valeant has on its books. Goodwill is a measure of intangible assets a business collects after making an acquisition. Papa didn't seem to know the answer to this at first, but then a member of his staff said the company had $18.5 billion in goodwill on the books.</p><p>Valeant has an $8 billion market cap. Makes you wonder exactly what all that goodwill means (or meant) in the first place.</p><p>The next question from a shareholder is key. He's a dermatologist who sells Valeant products. He said that he thinks the problem with the Walgreen's deal, which Papa admits is off to a bumpy start, isn't really Walgreen's. It's the insurers.</p><p>"We need to address the insurance issue. I think that's what blocks it and prevents my patients from getting products on a more timely basis," he said.</p><p>Papa didn't really have answers for that. Part of the issue is that Valeant's scandals frayed the company's relationships with insurers and healthcare providers. S0me severed their relationships with Valeant when it was found that the company was using a now-defunct private privacy to trick insurers into paying for Valeant drugs outside their client's offerings.</p><p>Repairing those relationships is going to to take time, and Valeant needs cash now.</p><h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Valeant</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Hold your breath</h2><p>Papa also got a question about why shareholders don't know more about what's going on with Valeant's price hiking problems and the rest of the scandal that took place this fall. Papa didn't answer that.</p><p>One angry shareholder asked why former CEO Michael Pearson, who presided over Valeant's near-demise, got a $9 million pay package. Papa said that it was in his contract, but failed to discuss the fact that Valeant is retaining Pearson as a consultant for two years along with perks like paying for his travel, health insurance, and office.</p><p>Lastly, Papa skirted a question about Valeant's changing business model. A shareholder asked if Valeant's seemingly new-found focus on R&amp;D was a new business model. Papa said simply that the company doesn't focus on how much it spends on R&amp;D, just how productive that R&amp;D is.</p><p>Plus it doesn't have the cash, lets be real. It doesn't have the cash (or the ability, thanks to its creditor agreements) to go back to growing through acquisitions either. Eventually (after who knows how many asset sales and legal issues) this will all be over, and Valeant will have to be something - the question is what.</p><p>You can see why Papa is stumped.</p>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/financial-adviser-first-question-fiduciary-2016-6">The most important question you should ask before hiring a financial adviser</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BtNWZ2MzE648d75KJjZuMeDMI-faHYUo" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

 A few random shareholders just made the Valeant CEO sound stumped in less than 20 minutes 

<br /> India has emerged as the world’s fastest growing economy. However, Asia’s third largest economy just ranked 97th among 118 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) released by the <keyword id="108578" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="International-Food-Policy-Research-Institute">International Food Policy Research Institute</keyword> (<keyword id="6557928" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="ifpri">IFPRI</keyword>). This puts the country behind even <keyword id="6354759" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bangladesh">Bangladesh</keyword>, <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword>, <keyword id="6355112" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Iraq">Iraq</keyword>, and <keyword id="6354767" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nigeria">Nigeria</keyword> in the hunger map.<br />
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India’s policy addressing hunger and malnutrition in all age groups has a feast of questions and a famine of answers. India’s hunger, being worse than any sub-Saharan country, needs crisis management and a long term vision. <br />
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<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Excise-duty-in-cigarette-hiked-Tobacco-farmers-in-india-are-struggling-to-make-ends-meet/articleshow/56872791.cms">ALSO READ: Excise duty in cigarette hiked. Tobacco farmers in India are struggling to make ends meet</a><br />
<br /> Be it <keyword id="4227644" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="manohar-das">Manohar Das</keyword> of <keyword id="4227647" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="tewri">Tewri</keyword> village in <keyword id="6360371" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jharkhand">Jharkhand</keyword>, who works in hundred days of wage-employment or <keyword id="4227646" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="shib-baksha">Shib Baksha</keyword> of <keyword id="4227645" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="amlasol">Amlasol</keyword> village in <keyword id="61773" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="West-Midnapore">West Midnapore</keyword> district of <keyword id="6357783" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="West-Bengal">West Bengal</keyword>, who works as contract labour at nearby village, the thin line that connects them is the ignorance about ‘<keyword id="2209492" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Modi-Sarkar">Modi Sarkar</keyword>’. The only thing they understand by the government is getting staples at Rs 2/kg and free goodies. However, staples alone can’t fulfill nutritional needs, as a result they end up with stunted growth and other diseases. Not everyone is as lucky as them. Their neighbours, unable to procure <keyword id="49514" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="bpl">BPL</keyword> (below poverty level) identity cards and Ration Cards aren’t entitled to these basic facilities and have to starve most of the days. Only feast they can think of is ant eggs roast during the scorching summer months.<br />
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India’s overall GDP growth is expected to end at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Excise-duty-in-cigarette-hiked-Tobacco-farmers-in-india-are-struggling-to-make-ends-meet/articleshow/56872791.cms">7.1% this financial year</a>, as compared to 4.6% two years back. While food still counts as the basic requirement of human existence, India is a country that not only produces enough, but ironically, there is never enough for its ever growing population to eat. Funnily, while millions go hungry, for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Excise-duty-in-cigarette-hiked-Tobacco-farmers-in-india-are-struggling-to-make-ends-meet/articleshow/56872791.cms">India storage of surplus food</a> has always been a problem.<br />
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<strong>India’s hunger-management disaster</strong><br />
While development in many sectors is acknowledged, what is lesser known is that India has also made considerable progress on many social fronts, such as fertility decline, expansion of schooling and bridging the gender gap in education, especially at the primary and lower secondary levels. However, there is one <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Excise-duty-in-cigarette-hiked-Tobacco-farmers-in-india-are-struggling-to-make-ends-meet/articleshow/56872791.cms">area of human development</a>, where India has been a disaster: tackling hunger and malnutrition.<br />
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Child malnutrition rates in India are extraordinarily high- among the highest in the world, with nearly one-half of all children under 3 years of age being either underweight or stunted. Indeed, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Excise-duty-in-cigarette-hiked-Tobacco-farmers-in-india-are-struggling-to-make-ends-meet/articleshow/56872791.cms">child malnutrition rates </a>are higher in India than in many countries of sub-Saharan <keyword id="12925" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Africa">Africa</keyword>, even though income levels are significantly higher and levels of infant and child mortality are lower in India.<br />
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<strong>Pediatric malnutrition</strong><br /> Prevalence of child malnutrition in India has remained stubbornly high even after nearly a half-century of respectable agricultural productivity growth and two decades of post-reform economic growth and prosperity in the country. Adding more support to the view that child malnutrition is weakly correlated with income is the finding that among children of mothers with 10 or more years of schooling as well as mothers from the top income quintile, around one-quarter are underweight. Even in a relatively prosperous and dynamic state like <keyword id="6354766" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gujarat">Gujarat</keyword>, child malnutrition rates have been stagnant over the past decade.<br />
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<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-indepay-is-making-rural-india-cashless/articleshow/57232771.cms">ALSO READ: HOW INDEPAY IS MAKING RURAL INDIA CASHLESS</a><br />
<br /> The <keyword id="121300" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-Family-Health-Survey">National Family Health Survey</keyword> (NFHS) found that a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-indepay-is-making-rural-india-cashless/articleshow/57232771.cms">significant number of adults</a> in India suffer from malnutrition. Almost 58 per cent of pregnant women aged 15-49 were found to be anaemic. The Global Food Security Index also revealed that Indians lack adequate quantities of iron, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-indepay-is-making-rural-india-cashless/articleshow/57232771.cms">Vitamin A and protein in their diets</a>.<br />
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“Half of the children who die before five years of age have malnutrion as a cause in their pathogenesis. If we look at proportion of weight at birth, 23 per cent of children weigh less than 2.5 kg, which is below normal. This low birth weight has its reason in the womb, which is where they are malnourished already before being born. Low birth weight increases over time and so by the time they are three-years-old, half the children are malnourished. Because of poor sanitation we have widespread <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-indepay-is-making-rural-india-cashless/articleshow/57232771.cms">faecal oral contamination</a>. Water and food sources have high degrees of contamination and it results in diarrhoea and other gastro intestinal illnesses, which increases the child mortality rate,” said renowned public health specialist and activist Dr <keyword id="43944" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Binayak-Sen">Binayak Sen</keyword>.<br />
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<strong>State of famine</strong><br />
In 1943, three million people died in the infamous <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841">Bengal famine</a>. There was no shortage of grain in <keyword id="6356978" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bengal">Bengal</keyword> at that time, yet people had nothing to eat. Interpreting the Famine of 1943,<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841"> Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen </a>suggested that the reason for it was the breakdown of the social arrangement in distributing food. To put the matter in a world context, every three seconds somewhere around the world, a child dies of causes related to avoidable malnutrition. "In those three seconds, the world armaments industry spends 120,000 USD in order to keep the system responsible safely in place,” Binayak Sen told <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword>.<br />
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<strong>Ignorant policies that do the most harm</strong><br /> Skyrocketing prices of daily food items spell more woe for the people, who are already paying "too much" to survive. International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (<keyword id="1367836" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IFAD">IFAD</keyword>) Rural Poverty Report-2011 states, “While international food prices have declined since mid-2008, they are still substantially higher than prior to the price surge, and they are likely to remain at 2010 levels or higher for the next decade.” The report has suggested that about 100 million of world’s rural and urban people have to remain hungry.<br />
<br /> “It will remain high, the era of cheap food is over," said <keyword id="669006" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Richard-Mahapatra">Richard Mahapatra</keyword>, managing editor of Down to <keyword id="6359982" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="earth">Earth</keyword>. "This is because productivity of agriculture is low and thus impacts production. This is the supply side issue. Also the rainfed areas that contribute a signifcant amount of foodgrain is not getting the policy focus. Even though the new second Green <keyword id="24385" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="revolution">Revolution</keyword> is aimed at that, it seems to be flawed. Now, the demand side. Demand is increasing but we don't have robust distribution mechanism. So, it creates further price rise. Also, there is huge diversion of agricultural lands to other uses. Combined with low productivity, less lands and absence of distribution mechanism, we are set for high price rise.”<br />
<br /> Due to the PDS (<keyword id="89442" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Public-distribution-system">Public Distribution System</keyword>) and the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841">public wage programmes</a> starvation deaths have definitely come down, he contended. Often we call cheap food grain programmes as populist. They are indeed popular as poor find them useful and their starvation is avoided with this entitlement.<br />
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<strong>Adult malnutrition</strong><br />
“Roughly 33-35 per cent of the entire Indian population have a BMI below 18.5, which is indicative of calorie malnutrition. They aren't getting enough food to eat. More than one-third of India is on a chronic basis not getting proper food to eat. Low BMI is also restricting people’s immunity,” said Binayak Sen.<br />
<br /> “Without addressing nutritional status, there can be no adequate development. Food Security Act does nothing for betterment of nutritional status of the poeple as such. <keyword id="250148" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-Bill">The Bill</keyword> is like 'something is better than nothing'. Five kilos of wheat per person per month make two chapattis per day. With two chapatis the nutritional question isn’t answered. This terrible nutritional deficit is yielding polarization in society,” he added.<br />
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<strong>Urban malnutrition</strong><br />
In villages, people stay in close bond with each other, who can be approached for help in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841">times of crisis</a>. Migrating people in cities start living in slums and ghettos, where they have to live with people unknown and untrustworthy. Moreover, people fight here to make ends meet, which actually leads to self-centric attitude.<br />
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<strong>Red corridor hunger</strong><br />
“People who are in chronic situation and stable famine are able to withstand only because of their access to natural resources like land, water and forest," opined Binayak Sen. "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841">Access to this resources was unrestricted</a>. Designating the common properties as commodities that can be owned by corporates is restricting poeple’s right to access and in a way right to live. Any form of resistance is labelled as insurgency. First they try civil ways and then take recourse in military measures. People have to confront. Application of eminent domain needs to be questioned. Under 5th schedule, govt has to ensure people’s access to natural resources but there is not a single instances of government intervening.”<br />
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“They have mapped it as red corridor but poeple’s deprivation hasn't been mapped yet," said Sen.<br />
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"We need to relook at the arm forces and UAPA laws. Whole discourse in election has become restricted to attitudes to development. Development is about accessing resources. Nobody is saying there are vital issues involved. What is going to happen to the poeple whose right has been denied? State will not be thwarted in its course. There needs to be a contestaion in the level of people. They need to raise the issue.”<br />
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<strong>Business Insider’s Take</strong><br />
Agriculture contributes around 16 per cent to<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=%22Suchayan%20Mandal%22&amp;author=Suchayan-Mandal-479239841"> India’s GDP</a>; it is coming down over the years. But still 60 per cent people depend on this. What does this mean? Is it that it is reliable as a source of livelihood or people don't have any other source thus depend on agriculture? In both the cases, shifting people out of agriculture is going to be a tough challenge. Industries or the service sectors have their own limitation and can't absorb such a huge number of people. Strategically, this will be a blunder as we kill out food self-sufficiency.

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