Public Debt and Economic Growth Nexus: Evidence from South Asia

It is well established in literature that the public debt and economic growth bear positive and non-linear relationship. However, in recent literature, evidence of no causal relationship is found when accounted for endogeneity in case of advanced economies (Panizza and Presbitero, 2014). Chudik, et al. (2017) analyse the data on forty countries and find no evidence of universally applicable threshold effect in the relationship between debt and growth. These advancements in the debt-growth literature provides the motivation to re-explore the relationship between public debt and economic growth under non-linearity and endogeneity in context of developing economies of South Asia including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri-Lanka for the period 1980-2014. There exists a significant, positive but non-linear relationship between the public debt and economic growth for the selected set of developing countries when accounted for endogeneity and non-linearity. The negative association between the public debt and economic growth for the SAARC region is found when the debt level is higher than 61% of GDP, which is significantly lower than developed economies (90% of GDP). Individual threshold levels for debt-to-GDP ratio divulge that Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and India need to control their public borrowings as their current debt levels are higher and/or around the respective threshold levels

Public Debt and Economic Growth Nexus: Evidence from South Asia

It is well established in literature that the public debt and economic growth bear positive and non-linear relationship. However, in recent literature, evidence of no causal relationship is found when accounted for endogeneity in case of advanced economies (Panizza and Presbitero, 2014). Chudik, et al. (2017) analyse the data on forty countries and find no evidence of universally applicable threshold effect in the relationship between debt and growth. These advancements in the debt-growth literature provides the motivation to re-explore the relationship between public debt and economic growth under non-linearity and endogeneity in context of developing economies of South Asia including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri-Lanka for the period 1980-2014. There exists a significant, positive but non-linear relationship between the public debt and economic growth for the selected set of developing countries when accounted for endogeneity and non-linearity. The negative association between the public debt and economic growth for the SAARC region is found when the debt level is higher than 61% of GDP, which is significantly lower than developed economies (90% of GDP). Individual threshold levels for debt-to-GDP ratio divulge that Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and India need to control their public borrowings as their current debt levels are higher and/or around the respective threshold levels

Physico-Chemical and Organoleptic Perspectives of Ginger Marmalade

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Comparison and HPLC quantification of antioxidant profiling of ginger rhizome, leaves and flower extracts

International audienceAbstract Background In the present era, the attention of nutritionist diverted towards the bioactive entities present in natural sources owing to the presence of health boosting perspectives against lifestyle related disarrays. Methods In this context, different parts of ginger crop i.e. rhizome, leaves and flower of variety Suravi (ID no. 008) were used for the preparation of ginger extracts with 50% methanol, 50% ethanol and water via rotatory shaker for 45 min. After that, different phytochemical analysis and in vitro analyses were carried out to determine the antioxidant potential of these extracts. Lastly, the best selected extracts from each part was quantified through HPLC. Results The results of current investigated indicated that ethanol extract proved to have maximum quantity of phytoceutics as compared to methanol and water. The maximum TPC, flavonoids, flavonols, DPPH assay, antioxidant activity, FRAP assay, ABTS assay and metal chelating potential was observed in ginger leaves as 780.56 ± 32.78 GAE/100 g, 253.56 ± 10.65 mg/100 g, 49.54 ± 1.74 mg/100 g, 75.54 ± 3.17%, 77.88 ± 3.27%, 105.72 ± 4.44 μmole TE/g, 118.43 ± 4.97 μmole TE/g and 35.16 ± 1.48%, respectively followed by ginger flowers and ginger rhizome. The lowest antioxidant activity was estimated in ginger rhizome. On the basis of phytochemical profiling and in vitro analyses, ethanol extracts of ginger flowers, leaves and rhizome were selected for the quantification through HPLC. Conclusion The findings proved that maximum 6-gingerol was present in ginger leaves (4.9 mg/g) tackled by ginger flowers (2.87 mg/g) and ginger rhizome (1.03 mg/g)

Impact of Food Literacy on Consumer's Food Purchasing Habits and Dietary Intake - A Systematic Review

Introduction: A well-nourished population represents the sustainable development of a nation. Poor alignment between food intake and dietary recommendations results in consumption of high calorie, low nutrient dense foods. Aims & Objectives: The main goal of this study is to find the relation between food literacy and dietary intake. Secondly, to assess the influence of food literacy on food purchasing habits. Place and duration of study: For this review, collection of studies from PubMed and Cochrane databases was started in May 2020 and was finalized by June 2020. Material & Methods: The eligibility criteria were based on two factors; that the study be written in English and published through a peer reviewed journal. Through the database search, total 673 studies were identified. After checking studies thoroughly at various steps, only 26 were included in this review. Results: 11 studies claimed the link between food label reading and intake of nutrients, while there were 10 studies that measured the consumer's purchase and food choices by their awareness level about food labels. Conclusion: This systematic review demonstrates nutrition education to be directly correlated with the food-related habits of people. Further research is required to get a clear vision about knowledge of nutritional labels and its effect on real life dietary choices

Novel techniques for microbiological safety in meat and fish industries

The consumer tendency towards convenient, minimally processed meat items has placed extreme pressure on processors to certify the safety of meat or meat products without compromising the quality of product and to meet consumer’s demand. This has prompted difficulties in creating and carrying out novel processing advancements, as the utilization of more up-to-date innovations may influence customer decisions and assessments of meat and meat products. Novel advances received by the fish and meat industries for controlling food-borne microbes of huge potential general wellbeing concern, gaps in the advancements, and the requirement for improving technologies that have been demonstrated to be effective in research settings or at the pilot scale shall be discussed. Novel preparing advancements in the meat industries warrant microbiological approval before being named as industrially suitable alternatives and authorizing infra-structural changes. This miniature review presents the novel techniques for the microbiological safety of meat products, including both thermal and non-thermal methods. These technologies are being successfully implemented and rationalized in subsisting processing surroundings.Ministry of Science and Education of the Russian Federation | Ref. 075-15-2020-77

The prophylactic potential of Zingiber officinale flowers and leaves extract to mitigate hyperglycemia in Sprague Dawley rats

International audiencePurpose Innovative health-promoting approaches of the era have verified phytoceutics as one of the prime therapeutic tools to alleviate numerous health-related ailments. The purpose of this paper is to probe the nutraceutic potential of ginger flowers and leaves against hyperglycemia. Design/methodology/approach The aqueous extracts of ginger flowers and leaves were observed on Sprague Dawley rats for 8 weeks. Two parallel studies were carried out based on dietary regimes: control and hyperglycemic diets. At the end of the experimental modus, the overnight fed rats were killed to determine the concentration of glucose and insulin in serum. The insulin resistance and insulin secretions were also calculated by formulae by considering fasting glucose and fasting insulin concentrations. Furthermore, the feed and drink intakes, body weight gain and hematological analysis were also carried out. Findings In streptozotocin-induced hyperglycemic rats, the ginger flowers extract depicted 5.62% reduction; however, ginger leaves extract reduced the glucose concentration up to 7.11% ( p = 0.001). Similarly, ginger flowers extract uplifted the insulin concentration up to 3.07%, while, by ginger leaves extract, the insulin value increased to 4.11% ( p = 0.002). For the insulin resistance, the ginger flower showed 5.32% decrease; however, the insulin resistance was reduced to 6.48% by ginger leaves ( p = 0.014). Moreover, the insulin secretion increased to 18.9% by flower extract and 21.8% by ginger leave extract ( p = 0.001). The feed intake and body weight gain increased momentously by the addition of ginger flowers and leaves; however, the drink intake and hematological analysis remained non-significant by the addition of ginger parts. Originality/value Conclusively, it was revealed that leaves have more hypoglycemic potential as compared to flowers

Food-induced anaphylaxis: causes, risk factors and clinical management

Globally, food processing patterns are becoming more sophisticated and modernized for meeting abrupt increase in demand of allegen free food. The stance of availability of allergens free food is a rather hectic task to implement and consumers most probably become prone to them. Anaphylaxis is a serious health-related syndrome due to the adverse response of immune system. It aggravates by the consumption of foods that contain allergens by ultimately activating basophils and mast cells. There are more or less ten prominent foods that trigger anaphylaxis after the ingestion. Hence, avoiding allergen-containing food can limit the proliferation of anaphylaxis. In this article, the occurrence of allergic reactions with respect to sex disparities, most probable food allergens, diagnostic approaches and its management are discussed

Comparative study of physicochemical and hedonic response of ginger rhizome and leaves enriched patties

International audienceThe present investigation was an attempt to compare the phytoceutic potential of ginger rhizome and ginger leaves of the Suravi variety. For this purpose, both rhizome and leaves were dried and used for the preparation of patties. After that, patties were assessed for colour tonality, texture, total phenolic content and hedonic response such as colour, taste, flavour, texture and overall acceptability. The results depicted that L* and b* values changed significantly during the storage interval; however, b* value was also affected by treatments whilst L* and a* values did not impart any momentous effect. For texture, the highest value was observed for patties with ginger rhizome powder (0.067 ± 0.0032 N) followed by patties with ginger leaf powder (0.060 ± 0.0029 N) and then control patties (0.057 ± 0.0026 N). For total phenolic content (TPC), maximum phenolic contents were observed as 84.80 ± 3.31 mg GAE 100 g–1 in treatment T2 followed by 75.68 ± 2.95 mg GAE 100 g–1 in T1 and 61.70 ± 2.41 mg GAE 100 g–1 in T0. For hedonic response, all the parameters changed significantly during the storage interval; however, flavour, taste and overall acceptability changed momentously with treatments. The findings of the current investigation demonstrated that ginger leaves have a higher antioxidant potential as compared to the ginger rhizome and control patties, and they should be incorporated into food products

In Vitro Probiotic Potential and Safety Evaluation (Hemolytic, Cytotoxic Activity) of Bifidobacterium Strains Isolated from Raw Camel Milk

The present study was designed to isolate Bifidobacterium strains from raw camel milk and to investigate their probiotic characteristics. Among 35 isolates, 8 were identified as Gram-positive, catalase negative, non-spore forming, non-motile and V or Y shaped rods. B-2, B-5, B-11, B-19 and B-28 exhibited good survival at low pH and high bile salt concentration. Most of the isolates were resistant to nalidixic acid, fusidic acid, polymyxin B, neomycin, streptomycin, gentamicin, rifampicin and kanamycin. Furthermore, the production of exopolysaccharides (EPS), adhesion characteristics, antioxidant properties, antagonistic activities, nitrite reduction and cholesterol assimilation were also studied. Isolate B-11 was chosen because it exhibited most of the probiotic properties among all the tested isolates. It is identified as the member of Bifidobacterium longum group through 16S rRNA gene sequencing and named as B. longum B-11. B. longum B-11 was further selected for in vivo attachment to rat intestine and scanning electron micrographs revealed that attachment of a large number of rods shaped bacterial cell. Our findings suggest that B. longum B-11 processes excellent attributes to be used as potential probiotic in the development of functional probiotic food