Arsenic in Food

Arsenic is considered as dangerous chemical and major public health concern. According to WHO, (2012), the recommended limit intake for arsenic in drinking water is not more than 10μg per liter. There are two forms of arsenic; inorganic and organic. Inorganic can be found in water and it is highly toxic. While, organic is less harmful and can be found in seafood. 

Read more »

Coconut

Coconut is often called the “tree of life”. It is used extensively in tropical countries such as Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka etc. The coconut is famous with the production of coconut oil and it becomes so popular. However, the production of corn oil and soy oil against coconut oil because coconut oil is believed to cause harmful to human because of high saturated fat content.

Read more »

Prevent Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is an abnormal growth of cells in colon and rectum. It can start either in the inner lining of colon or rectum and grows toward center. In 2002, colorectal cancer was the third most frequently reported cancer in West Malaysia. In 2006, it was reported that male (56.5%) was higher with colorectal cancer compared to female (43.5%). In addition, Chinese had the highest reported to suffer with colorectal cancer. Most colorectal cancer begins in polyps and they can grow to form cancer. Thus, it is important to get early detection and remove the polyps.

Read more »

Mangosteen

Mangosteen is a queen of fruit. In Malaysia, mangosteen is called manggis. The mangosteen consists of five to eight soft segmented fleshes. According to NutriWeb Malaysia, 3 big whole of mangosteen contain 33Kcal, 83.9g of water, 0.6g of protein, 1.0g of fat and 5.4g of carbohydrate. It can be eaten like other tropical fruit or made into juice. The juice consists of the whole fruit of the mangosteen pureed or combination with other fruit juice such as apple, blueberry, raspberry, cranberry, pear and strawberry.

Read more »

Dates Nutrient Composition

The water content in dates decreases as they are ripened. The average water content of dates are 83.6%, 65.9%, 43% and 24.2% in the ‘Kimri’ stage, ‘Khalal’ stage, ‘Rutab’ stage and ‘Tamr’ stage respectively. 

Read more »

Vegetables Prevent Cancers

Numerous previous studies revealed the benefits link between eating vegetables and protection against cancers. Eat vegetables is one of the recommendations for a healthy diet and reduce the risk of many diseases. Phytochemical can be found in most vegetables and it can act as anticancer.

Read more »

Roles of Vitamin C

Vitamin C has many other names including L-Ascorbic acid, L-xyloascorbic acid, 3-oxo-L-gulofuranolactone, L-3-ketothreohexuronic acid lactone, antisorbutic vitamin, ascorbic acid and ascorbate. It is a water soluble vitamin which synthesized from glucose by many animals. In some mammals, it is synthesized in liver while birds and reptiles, it is synthesized in kidney. However, human and several species are unable to synthesize vitamin C. Insufficient vitamin C in diet can cause scurvy and lack of enzymatic functions.

Read more »

An Introduction of Carbohydrate

Carbohydrate contains sugar that can provide primary energy for human being. It consists of monosaccharide, disaccharides and polysaccharides. Monosaccharide is a single component and cannot be broken down into simple sugar, while disaccharides and polysaccharides can be broken down into simple sugar. Carbohydrate can be found mostly in plant. It has many functions including act as storehouse of chemical energy (glucose and glycogen), as part of plants’ structures (cellulose), make up cell walls of fungi and exoskeleton of insects (chitin) and components of nucleic acids. 

A summary of photosynthesis to make carbohydrate

Read more »

Use Vegetables to Manage Your Weight

Vegetables have low in calories which can help you to lose weight. Vegetables are very important as a part of healthy diet. They provide a bundle of vitamins and minerals for your body. There is no single vegetable provides all nutrients that we need everyday. Eat plenty of varied vegetables everyday to get sufficient vitamins and minerals for healthy body. There are many ways to lose or maintain body weight. Using more vegetables with grain products, lean meats, beans and nuts is a safe healthy diet. Including vegetables into your meals not only help you to reduce weight, but it also helps to reduce the risk of cancers, heart diseases, strokes, eye and digestive problems. 

Read more »

About Mint

Mint can be a refreshing image comes to our mind and well known as mouth freshener. It is a cool herb belonging to family Lamiaceae. More than 20 species of mint including pineapple mint, ginger mint, Japanese mint, corn mint, spearmint, peppermint and horsemint, to name a few. Mint leaves are not only used for cooking, but it also can be used for medical purpose.

Read more »

Capsaicin from Chili Peppers

There is a substance known as capsaicin which can be found mainly in chili peppers. It gives chili peppers the characteristic pungent flavor producing mild to intense spice when eaten. Many benefits of capsaicin had been reported in obesity, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, cancers and dermatological. 

Read more »

Tomato and Its Benefits

Tomato is one of the most consumed vegetable in Malaysia. It is easily digestible with bright color to excite appetite. It is typically being consumed as salad in sandwiches. According to NutriWeb Malaysia, it is estimated that 1 medium tomato with 55g has 10.5kcal. Tomato contains large quantities of water in proportion to its weight which is almost 82%. When it is eaten, the water from tomato will be absorbed by the body.

Read more »

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (PUFA)

There are two type of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA); omega-3 fats and omega-6 fats. These fats are essential fatty acids means that the body cannot produce them. PUFA has more than one double-bonded (unsaturated) carbon in the molecule. PUFA food are liquid at room temperature and when chilled. There are many examples of food high with PUFA such as corn oil, soy oil, regular safflower, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil and flaxseed oil. Many fish also contains PUFA including salmon, mackerel, herring and trout. 

Read more »

Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA)

Monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) is called as a ‘good fat’. MUFA has one double-bonded (unsaturated) carbon atom. Foods made up mostly of MUFA are liquid at room temperature and changed to solid when they are chilled. There are many examples of MUFA including vegetable oils such as olive oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil, avocado and nuts such as almonds and peanuts.

Read more »

Obesity, What Are The Reasons?

Obesity is defined as excessive fat accumulation that can increase risk of health problems including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. A person with a BMI more than 30kg/m² is considered obese. The main reason can be due to taking more calories than burning it.

Read more »

Food For Stomach Cancer

Stomach cancer is the eighth out of ten most frequent cancer in Peninsular Malaysia 2006 (Ministry of Health Malaysia, 2006). But, it is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world, accounting for more than 700,000 deaths each year (Stump S. E., 2012). Stomach cancer, also called gastric cancer, is a class of diseases characterized by out-of-control cell growth that starts in the stomach.

Read more »

Fat and Colorectal Cancers

Colorectal cancer is the combination of the colon cancer and rectal cancer and it starts in either the colon or rectum. The National Cancer Registry of Malaysia stated that colorectal is the first among male and the second among female in Peninsular Malaysia in 2006. 

Read more »

Trans Fat Is A Trouble Maker

It is clear that we need to include fat in our diet. There are many types of fat which can provide benefits or may prove to be unhealthy if too much is eaten. Here, the story is about trans fats or their full name is trans fatty acids. Natural trans fats can be found in cheese, beef, lamb and mutton. Food such as biscuits, cakes, cookies, crackers and other snack food often contain high amount of trans fat in the from of hydrogenated vegetables oil.

Read more »

What is Protein?

Protein is the major component of body tissues. It is the essential nutrient for growth. Protein is made up of 20 amino acids and has three-dimensional structure. Protein is important in making antibodies, enzymes, hormones, muscles and protein transporters. Examples of food that contain all essential amino acids are meat, poultry, eggs and most of dairy products. Nuts and legumes are high sources of plant protein.

Read more »

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month‏

Pancreatic cancer can be a silent killer. In United State, pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death. But, in Malaysia, it is a quite rare type of cancer. According to the Malaysian Cancer Registry’s latest report in 2006, there was a total of 253 cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed in that year. This is in comparison to the total of 21,773 cancer cases. Pancreatic cancer is quite aggressive. Those who have metastasised pancreatic cancer only have a few years to survive. In Malaysia, most patients who suffer with this type of cancer are between 60-69 years old. 

Read more »