Re: Indian Scientists Use Radiation to Cure Flatulence

[SAFarberMSPH@CS.COM]

Dear Norm:


A country like India is concerned with getting a livable amount of high quality, low-cost protein to its 1,000,000,000 people. Bean/Legume products can play a vital role in feeding starving people and preventing malnutrition and reducing avoidable death. However, flatulence is an issue in gaining more widespread consumption of these products.


A simple thing like bulk food irradiation in getting food accepted for wider consumption in  third world environments has a real public health benefit.  Treating foodstuffs like legumes with irradiation before distribution makes a LOT more sense for a country like India, than trying to get hungry people to eat bean products and then getting them to consume Beano gas tablets, or  journey to their local pharmacy or supermarket to buy an enzyme flatulence avoidance product like Beano. Norm, let's at least try to not let radiation phobia affect every judgment about sensible uses of radiation technologies in helping hungry people.


BTW, I don't think the "poor legumes" are too concerned as you put it about being "zapped" --but if legumes have some type of  higher consciousness I'm sure they would realize its a far far better thing they do in being zapped to help prevent starvation and malnutrition.


Stewart Farber, MS Public Health

email: SAFarberMSPH@cs.com

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In a message dated 3/28/02 4:53:33 AM Pacific Standard Time, ncohen12@comcast.net writes:



> Stew,
>
> There's a product on the market now, called Beano, made by he Akpharma
>
> Corp, that does the same thing without xapping [sic] the poor legumes.
>
>
> norm
>
>
> SAFarberMSPH@CS.COM wrote:
>
>
> > I can recall seeing similar research touted in Nuclear News in the
>
> > mid-1980s. The benefits of irradiating various types of legumes with
>
> > massive doses of gamma rays to break down complex polysaccharides
>
> > which leads to reduced flatulence has been well established for over
>
> > 15 years.