हम हिंस्दुस्तानियों की दाल तड़के के बिना पूरी नहीं होती है. सिर्फ दाल ही क्यों, किसी भी डिश को आम से खास बनाने के लिए हम तड़का लगा देते हैं. पर क्या आपने कभी ये जानने की कोशिश की है क्या कि दाल में या दूसरी चीजों में तड़का लगाते क्यों हैं?
आपमें से कुछ लोग कहेंगे कि स्वाद के लिए तड़का लगाया जाता है. पर ये पूरी सच्चाई नहीं है. दरअसल, दाल में तड़का न केवल उसके स्वाद को बढ़ाता है बल्कि उसकी पौष्टिकता को भी कई गुना बढ़ा देता है. तड़के के लिए अलग-अलग घरों में अलग-अलग चीजों का इस्तेमाल होता है और ये सभी चीजें स्वाद और गुणों से भरपूर होती हैं.
ऐसे तैयार करें तड़का...
सबसे पहले घी या तेल को एक छोटी कड़ाही या फिर पैन में गर्म कर लें. उसके बाद इसमें वो सारे मसाले डाल दें तो आप खाना पसंद करें. जब ये थोड़ा पक जाए तो इसे दाल या फिर करी के ऊपर अच्छे से डाल दें. तड़के में हम कुछ मसालों के साथ ही कुछ हर्ब्स का भी इस्तेमाल करते हैं. तड़का, पाचन क्रिया को दुरुस्त रखने में मददगार होता है.
दाल या फिर करी में तड़का लगाने के फायदे:
1. तड़के के लिए ज्यादातर घरों में लहसुन का इस्तेमाल किया जाता है. लहसुन इम्यूनिटी बूस्ट करने का कमा करता है. इसके साथ ही इसमें एंटी-बैक्टीरियल गुण भी पाया जाता है. इससे इंफेक्शन, सर्दी, खांसी और सिर दर्द जैसी परेशानियां दूर रहती हैं.
2. अगर आपके घर स्पाइसी और तीखा खाना पसंद किया जाता होगा तो तड़के में खड़ी लाल मिर्च जरूर डाली जाती होगी. सूखी लाल मिर्च में कई तरह के विटामिन होते हैं, जिससे दर्द में राहत मिलती है और मोटापा भी कंट्रोल में रहता है.
3. जीरा, तड़के का सबसे जरूरी हिस्सा है. जीरा अच्छे पाचन के लिए रामबाण उपाय है. जीरे के इस्तेमाल से पेट फूलना, डायरिया, एसिडिटी और अपच की समस्या भी दूर रहती है.
4. कुछ लोग तड़के में करी पत्ते का इस्तेमाल करना भी पसंद करते हैं. करी पत्ती के इस्तेमाल से कोलेस्ट्रॉल लेवल कंट्रोल में रहता है. इससे पाचन सही रहता है, डायबिटीज का खतरा दूर होता है और साथ ही ये दिल की सेहत के लिए भी अच्छा होता है. करी पत्तियों में फाइबर, कार्ब्स, विटामिन ई, बी, ए, सी, आयरन, फॉस्फोरस और कैल्शियम भी अच्छी मात्रा में पाया जाता है.
5. कुछ घरों में लोग तड़का लगाते समय राई के दानों का भी इस्तेमाल करते हैं. राई के दानें मांस-पेशियों के दर्द को दूर करने का काम करता है. ये कोलेस्ट्रॉल के लेवल को कंट्रोल करने और इम्यूनिटी को बेहतर रखने में मददगार है.
6. हींग का इस्तेमाल जहां स्वाद बढ़ाने के लिए किया जाता है, वहीं इसके इस्तेमाल से गैस की प्रॉब्लम भी दूर हो जाती है. ये अपच और एसिडिटी में भी खासा फायदेमंद है. पेट की मरोड़ को शांत करने के लिए भी हींग का इस्तेमाल किया जाता है.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Friday, April 18, 2014
Taking care of grandkids one day a week helps keep grandmothers mentally sharp, shows study
Taking care of grandkids one day a week helps keep grandmothers mentally sharp, finds a study from the Women's Healthy Aging Project study in Australia, published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). That's good news for women after menopause, when women need to lower their risks of developing Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive disorders.
On the other hand, taking care of grandchildren five days a week or more had some negative effects on tests of mental sharpness. "We know that older women who are socially engaged have better cognitive function and a lower risk of developing dementia later, but too much of a good thing just might be bad," said NAMS Executive Director Margery Gass, MD.
The 186 Australian women, ages 57 to 68, took three different tests of mental sharpness and also noted whether they thought their own children had been particularly demanding of them in the last year. Among the 120 grandmothers, those who spent one day a week taking care of grandchildren performed best on two of the three tests. But those taking care of grandchildren for five or more days a week did significantly worse on one of the tests, which assesses working memory and mental processing speed.
That was a finding the researchers didn't expect. However, they also found that the more time grandmothers spent taking care of the grandchildren, the more they felt that their children had been more demanding of them, so maybe mood plays a role in the unexpected result. The investigators are already following up with more research.
Although other research has looked at the relationship between mental sharpness and being socially engaged, this is the first time that this type of research has looked at grandmothering. "Because grandmothering is such an important and common social role for postmenopausal women, we need to know more about its effects on their future health," says Dr. Gass. "This study is a good start."
On the other hand, taking care of grandchildren five days a week or more had some negative effects on tests of mental sharpness. "We know that older women who are socially engaged have better cognitive function and a lower risk of developing dementia later, but too much of a good thing just might be bad," said NAMS Executive Director Margery Gass, MD.
The 186 Australian women, ages 57 to 68, took three different tests of mental sharpness and also noted whether they thought their own children had been particularly demanding of them in the last year. Among the 120 grandmothers, those who spent one day a week taking care of grandchildren performed best on two of the three tests. But those taking care of grandchildren for five or more days a week did significantly worse on one of the tests, which assesses working memory and mental processing speed.
That was a finding the researchers didn't expect. However, they also found that the more time grandmothers spent taking care of the grandchildren, the more they felt that their children had been more demanding of them, so maybe mood plays a role in the unexpected result. The investigators are already following up with more research.
Although other research has looked at the relationship between mental sharpness and being socially engaged, this is the first time that this type of research has looked at grandmothering. "Because grandmothering is such an important and common social role for postmenopausal women, we need to know more about its effects on their future health," says Dr. Gass. "This study is a good start."
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Watching movies synchronises viewers' brains
When we watch a movie, our brains react to it immediately in a way similar to brains of other people, scientists have found.
When we watch a movie, our brains react to it immediately in a way similar to brains of other people, scientists have found.
Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have developed a method fast enough to observe immediate changes in the function of the brain even when watching a movie.
Researchers said by employing movies it was possible to investigate the function of the human brain in experimental conditions that are close to natural.
Traditionally, in neuroscience research, simple stimuli, such as checkerboard patterns or single images, have been used.
Viewing a movie creates multilevel changes in the brain function. Despite the complexity of the stimulus, the elicited brain activity patterns show remarkable similarities across different people - even at the time scale of fractions of seconds.
"The analysis revealed important similarities between brain signals of different people during movie viewing," said researcher Kaisu Lankinen.
"These similar kinds or synchronised signals were found in brain areas that are connected with the early-stage processing of visual stimuli, detection of movement and persons, motor coordination and cognitive functions.
"The results imply that the contents of the movie affected certain brain functions of the subjects in a similar manner," Lankinen said.
So far, studies in this field have mainly been based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, given the superior temporal resolution, within milliseconds, magnetoencephalography (MEG) is able to provide more complete picture of the fast brain processes.
With the help of MEG and new analysis methods, investigation of significantly faster brain processes is possible and it enables detection of brain activity in frequencies higher than before.
In the new analysis, brain imaging was combined with machine-learning methodology, with which signals of a similar form were mined from the brain data.
When we watch a movie, our brains react to it immediately in a way similar to brains of other people, scientists have found.
Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have developed a method fast enough to observe immediate changes in the function of the brain even when watching a movie.
Researchers said by employing movies it was possible to investigate the function of the human brain in experimental conditions that are close to natural.
Traditionally, in neuroscience research, simple stimuli, such as checkerboard patterns or single images, have been used.
Viewing a movie creates multilevel changes in the brain function. Despite the complexity of the stimulus, the elicited brain activity patterns show remarkable similarities across different people - even at the time scale of fractions of seconds.
"The analysis revealed important similarities between brain signals of different people during movie viewing," said researcher Kaisu Lankinen.
"These similar kinds or synchronised signals were found in brain areas that are connected with the early-stage processing of visual stimuli, detection of movement and persons, motor coordination and cognitive functions.
"The results imply that the contents of the movie affected certain brain functions of the subjects in a similar manner," Lankinen said.
So far, studies in this field have mainly been based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, given the superior temporal resolution, within milliseconds, magnetoencephalography (MEG) is able to provide more complete picture of the fast brain processes.
With the help of MEG and new analysis methods, investigation of significantly faster brain processes is possible and it enables detection of brain activity in frequencies higher than before.
In the new analysis, brain imaging was combined with machine-learning methodology, with which signals of a similar form were mined from the brain data.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Targeting mosquito sperm can help combat malaria
Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes are the main transmitters of malaria, which affects around 200 million people every year.
Scientists have discovered a way of reducing the fertility of malaria-carrying mosquitoes by targeting an enzyme that protects their sperm, potentially providing a new tactic to combat the disease.
Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes are the main transmitters of malaria, which affects around 200 million people every year. The females mate only once during their lives.
They store the sperm from this single mating in an organ called the spermatheca, from which they repeatedly take sperm over the course of their lifetime to fertilise the eggs that they lay. The female needs the sperm to stay healthy whilst they are in storage in the spermatheca, so that they are viable each time she uses them to reproduce.
The new research shows that the sperm are partly protected by the actions of an enzyme called HPX15. When the researchers interfered with HPX15 in female A gambiae mosquitoes in the laboratory, the females fertilised fewer eggs and therefore produced fewer offspring. This is the first time that scientists have discovered a mechanism that preserves the function of sperm in A gambiae.
The researchers, from Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Perugia and Imperial College London, believe that their insight could ultimately lead to a new weapon in the fight against malaria. This would work by disabling HPX15 to reduce female fertility and through that, reduce the number of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in circulation.
“Malaria kills over 650,000 people every year and we need to find new ways of tackling it, partly because mosquitoes continue to evolve ways of resisting our efforts,” Dr Robert Shaw, one of the lead authors of the research, said. “We are interested in cutting the numbers of malarial mosquitoes by impairing their ability to reproduce, and our new study suggests a way that we might be able to do this.
“There is no single magic bullet for tackling malaria, but making mosquitoes less fertile could provide us with a valuable weapon against the disease,” said Shaw. The study suggests that HPX15 may protect the stored sperm against potentially damaging molecules called free radicals, which are particularly abundant after a female takes a blood feed.
Ensuring that the sperm are healthy after blood-feeding is important for the female’s fertility as she reproduces after each feed, fertilising her eggs with sperm released from the spermatheca. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists have discovered a way of reducing the fertility of malaria-carrying mosquitoes by targeting an enzyme that protects their sperm, potentially providing a new tactic to combat the disease.
Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes are the main transmitters of malaria, which affects around 200 million people every year. The females mate only once during their lives.
They store the sperm from this single mating in an organ called the spermatheca, from which they repeatedly take sperm over the course of their lifetime to fertilise the eggs that they lay. The female needs the sperm to stay healthy whilst they are in storage in the spermatheca, so that they are viable each time she uses them to reproduce.
The new research shows that the sperm are partly protected by the actions of an enzyme called HPX15. When the researchers interfered with HPX15 in female A gambiae mosquitoes in the laboratory, the females fertilised fewer eggs and therefore produced fewer offspring. This is the first time that scientists have discovered a mechanism that preserves the function of sperm in A gambiae.
The researchers, from Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Perugia and Imperial College London, believe that their insight could ultimately lead to a new weapon in the fight against malaria. This would work by disabling HPX15 to reduce female fertility and through that, reduce the number of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in circulation.
“Malaria kills over 650,000 people every year and we need to find new ways of tackling it, partly because mosquitoes continue to evolve ways of resisting our efforts,” Dr Robert Shaw, one of the lead authors of the research, said. “We are interested in cutting the numbers of malarial mosquitoes by impairing their ability to reproduce, and our new study suggests a way that we might be able to do this.
“There is no single magic bullet for tackling malaria, but making mosquitoes less fertile could provide us with a valuable weapon against the disease,” said Shaw. The study suggests that HPX15 may protect the stored sperm against potentially damaging molecules called free radicals, which are particularly abundant after a female takes a blood feed.
Ensuring that the sperm are healthy after blood-feeding is important for the female’s fertility as she reproduces after each feed, fertilising her eggs with sperm released from the spermatheca. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Study warns kitchens may carry multi-drug resistant bacteria
Prefer spicy restaurant food over home-made delicacies? Get alarmed as hands of food preparers and chopping boards remain a source of transmission for multi-drug resistant bacteria such as E coli, a study warns.
"The spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria has been associated with the hospital setting, but new findings suggest that transmission of drug-resistant E coli occurs both in hospitals and kitchens," explained Andreas Widmer from University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland.
The findings emphasise the importance of hand hygiene, not only after handling raw poultry, but also after contact with cutting boards used in poultry preparation, he added.
To reach this conclusion, researchers collected and examined 298 cutting boards (154 from University Hospital and 144 from private households) after preparation of various meats - poultry, beef/veal, pork, lamb, game and fish - and before being cleaned.
These samples were tested for the presence of bacteria that includes Salmonella, E coli and Klebsiella.
In testing the cutting boards, researchers found that boards used in households had E coli on 3.5% of these surfaces.
They also found that 50% of the kitchen gloves were contaminated with this drug-resistant E coli.
The meat's country of origin did not play a factor in the presence of bacteria on any of the surfaces, said the study, published in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
"The spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria has been associated with the hospital setting, but new findings suggest that transmission of drug-resistant E coli occurs both in hospitals and kitchens," explained Andreas Widmer from University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland.
The findings emphasise the importance of hand hygiene, not only after handling raw poultry, but also after contact with cutting boards used in poultry preparation, he added.
To reach this conclusion, researchers collected and examined 298 cutting boards (154 from University Hospital and 144 from private households) after preparation of various meats - poultry, beef/veal, pork, lamb, game and fish - and before being cleaned.
These samples were tested for the presence of bacteria that includes Salmonella, E coli and Klebsiella.
In testing the cutting boards, researchers found that boards used in households had E coli on 3.5% of these surfaces.
They also found that 50% of the kitchen gloves were contaminated with this drug-resistant E coli.
The meat's country of origin did not play a factor in the presence of bacteria on any of the surfaces, said the study, published in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
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