Folate Supplementation In Food Essay Example for Free

Folate Supplementation In Food Essay Generally, fortification of foods have proven beneficial to people over the past years as it restores the nutrients that may have been lost in food processing and also enhances the vitamins that the food contain. Examples of food fortification include the addition of Vitamin C, to an orange drink, Vitamin D to dairy products, and Vitamins B1 and B2 to bread, among many others. However, while food fortification is generally considered beneficial to consumers, a recent article, Folic Acid Fortification: One Size May Not Fit It All, which was published in Natural News. com, showed that foods fortified with folic acid increase the risk of colon cancer. While I am in generally in favor of the fortification of foods, the article made me think twice before consuming foods that are high in folic acid. Although the article showed that folic acid had a number of benefits, particularly the 20 per cent reduction of birth defects of the spinal cord and the central nervous system, it still had health risks which, for me, should be greatly considered before taking in foods that are high in folic acid. In addition, even though the number of benefits outweigh the risks when consuming food that are fortified with folic acid, I believe that food manufacturers, nutritionists and members of the health sector should further conduct a collaborative and in-depth study on folic acid-fortified foods before they are made available for public consumption. The findings of the study should be then showed to the public so that people are aware of the risks of eating too much of a certain food. Another option which I believe would greatly avoid the risks of consuming food fortified with folic acid is the modification of food labeling. At present, food labeling is mandatory. However, it only shows the amount of nutrients, carbohydrates, calories, cholesterol, and other contents of the food and not the risks associated with it. In this regard, I would recommend that food manufacturers label fortified foods which contain substances that have known health risks in such a way that the people or consumers can see what exactly the risks are. For example, if a food is high in folic acid, which were shown to increase the risks of colon cancer, its label should clearly indicate that too much consumption of this food can lead to the colon cancer or should at least contain a warning. Furthermore, I also believe one way to lessen the risks of consuming foods fortified with folic acid, is for the government to make the public more aware of the exact content of the food and the dangers associated with them. Nevertheless, the article stated that only those who consume too much food fortified with folic acid are at risk for colon cancer, which means that these kinds of food are relatively safe if consumed moderately. The bottom line is people should always be aware of the exact content of the food they are eating in order to avoid possible health risks.

Bornstein :: essays research papers

Although Bornstein argues that gender is entirely socially constructed I find it hard to believe that he is completely correct. I do agree that gender is influenced by the world we are born into. I understand that from birth we are partially programmed by our society to become something, but I do not agree that this is the determining factor in what we become as people. I feel that it's only a small part of our modern society (known as traditions) that are fighting to fit us in a certain category. Furthermore, I'd like to believe that most of today's society is helping us express our own individuality. I am not a stranger to social construction. I was born to a very strict Roman Catholic Italian family. My grandfather worked construction 50 hours a week while my grandmother tended seven children. My own mother was not even allowed to attend college because they believed that "girls weren't supposed to go to college". Inequality and gender difference was very visible. Do to social construction, my mother grew up believing that there were certain jobs for men and certain jobs for women. Ironically it was the changing society of the late 60's and early 70's that gave my mother the motivation to question tradition. I feel that in this situation it's not society in general that constructs gender but simply ignorance through tradition. In my mothers case it wasn't society at all but merely her families strict traditional values that tried construct her into the "traditional women" figure. Even though many years have past since my mother has grown up and much has changed traditional values still play a part in how gender difference is created in society. In my own life my family has influenced my views on gender dramatically. When I was young I would listen to my grandfather ramble (in that myopic traditionally old fashioned tone so common of an older generation) about the inadequacy of women drivers and the annoyances of having women in the workplace. As a young person his views were very impressionable and if I hadn't been corrected by my mother I may of easily carried these beliefs into adulthood. In another situation, if there was ever any mention of eating a microwave meal in front of my grandmother she would immediately begin a rant about how she used to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for seven children, herself, and my grandfather everyday of the week with no exceptions.

Graduate Employability Essay

When we say Graduate Employability, the first thought that comes to mind is the definition of employability. Various definitions have been written, and rewritten. They are all correct, but not quite complete. Reason being, the perspectives on employability are dynamic, while the norms in education run according to the knowledge curriculum, which may also be dynamic in most cases, but runs on a pre set pattern- one cannot jump the queue. Often, there has been a gap between discipline based skills acquired during higher education, and generic skills which are increasingly regarded as an essential input for employability. This gives rise to this perennial debate about graduate employability and reveals issues in higher education. As David Hind and Stewart Moss (in their book, Employability Skills, published in early 2005) seem to suggest. – written, verbal, communication, presentation skills etc enhance the employability of an individual or graduate looking for a job. Having skills and putting them to work is the starting point of employability- by how much an individual succeeds in this effort determines his level of achievement. Employability is an ongoing process- and it does not begin or end with a graduate getting his first job. Britain has been in the forefront of this ongoing debate. While skills and knowledge have been the twin constituents of employability always, it remains to be decided which one is the critical attribute and what is the optimum mix. Professor Mantz Yorke takes the view that employability is complex and goes well beyond the notion of key skills- it takes into account a mix of personal qualities and beliefs, understandings, skilful practices and the ability to reflect productively on experience (Learning and Employability Series, the study on â€Å"Employability in Higher Education- what is and what is not†) Then we come to the issues in higher education impacting graduate employability. Higher Education Funding Council for England conducted a study on graduate employability way back in 2003 and found that work experience during courses appears to be a highly positive influence on employability. The reason is simple- while on the job, the student gets an opportunity to use his academic knowledge in realtime scenario- that too under close supervision and tutorial guidance. The ownership is high because the results are linked to the students performance. The intrapersonal skill sets are fine tuned and behavioural skills are further honed to provide the student with tools to accomplish a given task or project. When later, as a graduate he or she looks for employment , there is far more clarity on the demands of the job and his/her ability to match up- so wrong decisions are averted. It results in well matched expectations from both sides- the employer and the employee. Competencies being different for different job roles, it just gets that much much simpler to know what one is good at, and what one should be looking for. Another point highlighted in the study by HEFCE says that employer involvement in course design and delivery is positively associated with the quality of initial employment found by graduates. This way, the employers expectations are stated explicitly, and the curriculum tweaked to accommodate the expectations. Sufficient to say, that while there is already a whole lot being done at the graduation level, to turn out complete, capable and well balanced individuals, more can be done to enhance employability. The times are changing, so are the needs and expectations of students and Corporates. The efficacy of a sound education system gets established if the alumni are successful in their calling. This focussed group discussion is meant to establish the relationship between schooling and education. As Mark Twain said, so long ago- â€Å"don’t let your schooling interfere with your education†. We are all familiar with Robin Hood!

“Naked Economics” by Charles Wheelan Essay

Economics is on fundamental level of the study of scarcity. Human desires are unlimited, but resources aren’t and every society tries to figure out how to allocate its resources for maximum benefit. The field of economics attempts in large part, to help understand these resource allocations and decisions. Resources allocated largely according to the forces of supply and demand, and prices serve as incentives to determine how much of a product a company wants to produce and how much people want to buy. Economics can also be looked at as the study of incentives or the study of household business making. Due to such a large variety of information, economist begin to attempt solving a problem by stating â€Å"it depends†. These two words are widely used in the field of economics and foremost the most important two words we see in the book â€Å"Naked Economics† by Charles Wheelan. These two simple, yet widely used words are portrayed and used greatly through out each chapter by the author giving a simple explanation of how certain scenarios differ and are different from one another based on certain situations. The first four chapter of the book are and understanding of introducing you to what economics and giving you a brief understanding of how it works, such as the importance of incentives, and the ways economist tackle certain scenarios. The first few chapters introduce many questions, but most importantly ask â€Å"Is the Government making our economy better†? This is highly debated throughout and it all boils down to the two words â€Å"it depends†. When the government owns a certain part of a part of business, the government has no motive to â€Å"do a good job†. For example companies owned and run by the government such as places including the DMV, public health facilities, and hospitals used by people who have insurance given to them by the government, have no incentive to â€Å"do a good job† and make the visit  quick, painless, and easy. This proves that government regulation is a bad thing, but there are many ways to avoid this if looked deeper into†¦ Companies could buy out these small time businesses and provide better assistance and quality help. But the government is mainly focused upon two things which are taxation and regulation with trade offs. Chapter four introduces examples of the New Delhi situation, which was when factories and large plants were shut down by the government solely because the pollution got so bad. Many people were extremely angered by this because it left many unemployed and with nothing to do. This caused many problems throughout the society and grew into a large dispute between the people and the government. A skeletal summary of chapter five is that it introduces the economics of insurance. One question introduced is â€Å"how much information is too much information† which insurance agencies and courts take into consideration. If your applying for health insurance and you’re a middle aged man with a history of family health conditions or a history of early death solely due to health issues then filing a claim for life insurance is extremely difficult and sometimes extremely expensive. On the other hand if you’re a person with no history of bad medical records and have a steady and safe job insurance isn’t something to hard to obtain from a company. This question is greatly used with insurance companies. They will ask basic question and have some questions referring to the things listing above asking for a brief explanation or answer to the following question, not looking out for the person, but looking out for there company so the insurance company can have the highest profit margin possible. The question of â€Å"how much information is too much† depends on the person and who you are in the situation. In last bunch of chapter the question of wealth is brought up and talked about with how economist look at the situation, the question of â€Å"how rich am I†. A commonly asked question by many people is â€Å"how rich are you† or â€Å"how much money do you have†, but this isn’t something that economist look into. They solely look into the GDP per capita which often shows a nations wealth, but is often criticized by many people, even economists. People often don’t realize that a nations GDP per capita can increase while unemployment, and the infant mortality rate increases as well. This is very plausible for an  economy. Inflation plays a huge role in wealth for every person and â€Å"it depends†. If home developer earned a gross income of $450,000 per year, you cannot say you are richer than someone in the early 70’s early a gross income of $300,000 per year due to inflation and the economy. The question of your wealth all depends on how you look at the situation and how you define what wealth is to you. If wealth means how much money you have and you don’t consider inflation and certain scenarios then your most wrong. Our economy is every changing and someone earning $300,000 a year in the year of 2009 compared to that of a person in 2001 situations were completely different and may have been easier for that person due to â€Å"good† economy. Throughout the chapters, Wheelan talks about many different scenarios and addresses different questions. In Chapter four Wheelan addresses how the government is helping to promote the growth of the economy. In Chapter ten, he addresses the federal reserve and certain scenarios

Views in the Battle of Trenton essays

Views in the Battle of Trenton essays Despite Lack of morale among Troops and Poor Supplies, Brilliant Washingto defeats British On the morning of December 26the General Washington lead the American fources to another unlikely victory. Weeks before General Lee was captued by Lt.Col. Harcourt and could not come to the aid of Washington, thus this weakened our fources even more. Another blow was the retreat of General Greene. The New Jersey Militia also showed up in miniscule numbers, and deserttion was common The British troops along with the Hessians had been chasing the American fources from New Brunswick, to Princeton, untill the pushed them back into Pennslyvania. The British troops were spread out and not feeling any threat of the Amrican fources, besides a few rapscalius New Jersey Milita Men who annoyed them enough to give Washingto a hand. The foursight of Washinton lead him to have all the boats along the Deleware collected as to stop any mode of further progress by Howe. This worked and Howe decied not to persue Washinton any further. Washington took this time to recuperate and plan. The timing could not have been more perfect had God planned it himself. Just after nightfall Washinton had his troops ferried across to the New Jersey side while Col. Fitzgerald transported 2400 men, 18 cannons and their hourses just south of Bristol and one south of Trenton. This was to capture any fleeing Hessian Troops, who had been placed there previously. The Weather was bone chilling cold. Due to this two men had reportedly froze to death, but Washington marched the on. As luck would hve it the same stoem caused Major Dechow to cancel his dawn patrole. The Drunken Corl. Rall was slow to aide his troops from his Christmas reveling. All the Hessians were slowed by the jollies of the past night and the sober Ameican militia caught them off guard. In the pandamonium the three Hessian regiments were seperated and left exposed. Wi ...

Africas Slow Growth And Development Politics Essay

Africas Slow Growth And Development Politics Essay This paper examines the causes of slow growth and development of Africa with emphasis on some selected countries. The paper argued on the basis of Madison’s (1995:65) estimates of per capital Gross Domestic Profit (GDP) for a sample of countries that, during the first half of the century, Africa had grown considerably more rapidly than Asia. By 1950, the African sample had overtaken the Asian sample. In the 1960s, Africa’s future looked bright, especially that the continent was gradually disengaging from the bondage of colonial imperialism. But today, Africa is the poorest continent in the world. While there has been a steady growth in countries of Asia, such as Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, African states have lagged behind. Why is African development growing slowly? What went wrong in Africa? How can these problems be solved? This paper attempts to provide answers to some of the fundamental issues that have bedeviled the continent in the 21st century. In order to assess the level of growth and development in the continent, the concepts of ‘growth and development’ is critically examined within the confines of Africa in the paper. The paper attributed the slow growth and development of Africa to ‘Internal influences and external dimensions’. At the same time, the paper provides some plausible suggestions that would serve as a panacea to the problems militating against the growth and development of Africa. Introduction From what direction should one view the slow growth and development of Africa: is it from the perspective of bad leadership couple with wide spread corruption? Or is it that of policy failure, or geographic and demographic factors? Africa as well as the rest of the world is battling with this provocative question: Why does Africa continue to lag behind the rest of the world in terms of social and economic development? Mathew Paris writing in Times August (2002), believes the answer to the co ntinent’s development problem lies in four simple words: †swagger, Indolence, self indulgence and hot air †he points out †failure of leadership, the individual means that what is created or started is not maintained. Further more, it has also been argued that after 1960, particularly when majority of the countries in the continent gained political freedom, the potential of governments were not responsive to the people’s needs, aspirations and wishes, Mathew Parris (2002). The dream were shattered due to bad leadership, corruption, wars, poverty and eventually, economic underdevelopment. Could this entire unfortunate phenomenon be considered as factors militating against the growth and development of Africa? In terms of structure and for the purpose of understanding and clarity of the main thrust of this article, we have divided the paper into four parts. The first part focuses on the interpretation and application of the terms ‘growth and develo pment’ as concepts of analysis. It is necessary to understand that the two concepts were used based on what the paper takes them to be. Perhaps the greatest weakness in the literature of social sciences is striking lack of precision with which terms are used and under the conditions they are studied. However, a clear distinction between growth and development is explained in this part. The second part discusses African perspective. The rich complex of minerals, ecological hung provided by the continent, the continent’s archeological sites and the richness of African culture and its contribution to global community is captured in the first part. The third part investigates the causes of the slow growth and development in Africa. On this part different explanations were presented to justify the strength of points on the topic under review. However, few examples of some selected countries were cited. The fourth part poses a fundamental question: whether or not Africa will ever grow and develop? Perhaps, this is the greatest challenge to African leaders in the 21st century whose time has come. While the final section concentrates on the concluding remarks. This part provides some plausible suggestions that would change the predicaments in Africa, at least if not all, some parts of it.

Safety of pedestrians and bicycles Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Safety of pedestrians and bicycles - Term Paper Example Over the period of last 20 years, these countries have taken some major steps to ensure safety like better facilities, better urban planning and traffic education for all those who use the road, be it pedestrian, cyclist or motor driven. The implementation of road safety laws has played a key role in this statistic. Other countries may imply the very same rules and models applied in Europe to have a better safety record for the coming future where more highways and road networks will be established for all kinds of commuters (Pucher, 2000). Introduction In the modern era; where fast cars, busses and sub-ways swell our urban and sub-urban lifestyle, people still prefer simple means to travel which includes the earliest mode of travel which is â€Å"walking† and a the use of two-wheel un-powered vehicle known as the bicycle. This trend has recently increased, especially in the metro-cities due to the limitation of traveling in powered vehicles. Some of the problems include parki ng space, fuel cost and taxes. The increase in technology has made sure that a network of roads and highway is established due to the nature and speed requirements of the motorists. This very fact has made modern urban planners to think about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists traveling on the road; especially the ones which they share with high speed cars, busses and other engine driven vehicles. This report helps in understanding the very danger faced by pedestrians and the people saving fuel on bicycles. The safety precautions taken by states and other agencies involved in the welfare of people on the road, be it any mode of travel. The report gives an insight of the future of pedestrian and bicycle riders with respect to change in historical terms or accident avoidance and self education of the people using highways and roads. Trends in Walking and Cycling The 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) shows us that the trips taken on foot were around 11 percent of all the trips reported where as trips on bicycle were recorded to a bare 1 percent. This accounts for a total of 12 percent. Although these stats do not show a healthy sign, but in comparison to the stats in 2001, show n increase of 25 percent overall. The total number for commuters on foot has almost doubled from 18 billion in 1990 to 24.5 billion in 2009. A similar trend was noticed in the area of bikes, where the numbers rose from 1.7 billion to 4 billion in the same time frame. Still, the required numbers in ratio with the current population are not being met to reduce engine driven vehicle related issues on a daily basis (Clifton, 2004). The method of data collection for reaching these trends has also turned into an efficient system by replacing the old system. The use of telephone to carry out the survey was later replaced by recovering data from travel logs. The National Household Travel Survey included another key assessment for calculating the number of people walking or riding a bicycle in a prescribed time frame. The survey asked people about the number of