My Science School

Vitamin D is a prohormone that is essential for normal absorption of calcium from the gut, and deficiency of vitamin D is usually more common than either isolated calcium or phosphorus deficiency and is the commonest cause of rickets/osteomalacia.

Vitamin D is essential for skeletal health. It promotes differentiation of enterocytes and the intestinal absorption of calcium and phosphorus. This helps in bone mineralization. In conditions of hypocalcemia or hypophosphatemia, vitamin D stimulates bone resorption, thereby maintaining serum levels of calcium and phosphorus. Vitamin D deficiency or resistance thus causes hypocalcemia and hypophosphatemia. Hypocalcemia stimulates the release of parathyroid hormone (PTH), which, through its actions on bone and kidney, partially corrects the hypocalcemia but enhances urinary phosphate excretion, leading to hypophosphatemia and osteomalacia. 25(OH)D also plays an important role in extraskeletal health. Vitamin D deficiency may be associated with certain immunological conditions such as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, mood disorders, and cancers such as breast, prostate, and colon cancer. In adolescents, low serum vitamin D levels are associated with increased risk of hypertension, hyperglycemia, metabolic syndrome, and higher risk of upper respiratory infections. This chapter focuses on the skeletal manifestations of vitamin D deficiency.

 

Picture Credit : Google

While eating in banana leaf does have health benefits, especially the presence of potassium and ECGC in all products of banana, our South Indian ancestors did not worry about the science but about more practical reasons that the banana leaf offered.

The simple reason banana leaves were used was because,

1. They are long and wide enough accommodate a lot of food.

2. They don’t leak water or any liquid.

3. A new plate for each meal. They are use and throw. No need to clean. Just throw away or compost it.

4. They were probably in abundance, as banana plants would have been cultivated for its other products like fruit and fiber. Bronze or Copper plates would have been costlier and iron plates would get rusted. 5.There was no stainless steel in the past like now. So, banana leaves are an ideal choice.

Roasted banana leaves are good for packaging. We can even pack liquid stuff like gravies, sambaars, and even water with slightly roasted banana leaves. During our train trips we slightly roast the banana leaves and fill up Puliyodharai in it and fold it and tie with a banana fiber. Roasted banana leaves do not tear easily when folded.

6. Even if Banana did not offer any health benefits, it would still be used as plates.

7. Using banana leaf as a plate or a packaging medium is not unique to South India, but also to many other countries, especially the ones close to equator.

 

Credit : Quora

Picture Credit : Google