Q.
What vitamins and minerals are essential for a pregnant lady?
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Ans.
Following are the vitamins and minerals that are essential for a pregnant lady.
a) Iron
Iron is needed for hemoglobin synthesis, deficiency of iron leads to anaemia. Iron deficiency during pregnancy leads to low birth weight in infants.
b) Calcium
Requirements of this essential mineral double during pregnancy, and are particularly high during the last ten weeks when calcium is being laid down in baby’s bones. Despite this, though, no dietary increase is thought necessary because your body adapts to absorb more calcium from the foods eaten.
c) Folic acid
This is particularly important before conception and during the first trimester of pregnancy. Mothers who are deficient in folic acid are at increased risk of having a baby with a neural tube defect (NTD), such as spina bifida.
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Q.
What is the right way to take an asthma inhaler?
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Ans.
Asthma inhalers may not always be used correctly. As a result, many people don’t get enough medicine into their lungs. Steps for using an asthma inhaler are as follows:
- Take off the cap and shake the inhaler.
- Breathe out all the way.
- Hold our inhaler the way your doctor said (A, B or C below).
a) Hold inhaler one or two inches in front of your mouth (about the width of two fingers).
b) Use a spacer/holding chamber. These come in many shapes and can be useful to any patient.
c) Put the inhaler in your mouth. Do not use for steroids
· As you start breathing in slowly through your mouth, press down on the inhaler one time. (If you use a holding chamber, first press down on the inhaler. Within five seconds, begin to breathe in slowly.)
· Keep breathing in slowly, as deeply as you can while inhaling.
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Q.
I have read somewhere that people taking statins should take Co Q10 supplements. Why?
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Ans.
Statins have been shown to create an acquired CoQ10 deficiency. This enzyme is essential to mitochondrial ATP generation and antioxidant function in lipid and mitochondrial membranes, so it is advised to have CoQ 10 in combination with statins
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Q.
How long can I use suspensions and in which condition should I store them?
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Ans.
It varies from product to product whether it is already prepared or to be prepared by adding water, prepared suspensions can be used till expiry date and and are generally stored at 25 to 30 degree centigrade.
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Q.
What’s in your vrat ki thali?
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Ans.
This is the high season of fasting. Fasting helps our body detox. However, normally fasting is followed by feasting, which does our body more harm than good. Know what is in your typical vrat ki thali—
- Kuttu ke ate ki puri flour-4 poori -432.6kcal and 12 gm protein
Aloo sabzi -(100 gm ) - 97 kcal and 1.6 gm protein
Badam burfi ( 50 gm khoya (whole milk ) and 25 gm almond )-549 kcal and 20.5gm protein
Raita (100)- 60 kcal and 3.1gm protein
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Q.
I have heard that women are at increased risk of developing osteoporosis once they reach forty. Please tell me what can I do to keep my bones healthy?
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Ans.
Yes, you are right. Women are at higher risk for having osteoporosis. According to WHO data, one out of eight males and one out of three females in India has osteoporosis.
- Get enough sunlight at least for fifteen minutes everyday and include dairy in all three meals in a day.
- Do weight bearing exercises for strong bones like—walking, running and skipping.
- Ladies post menopause should increase intake of soy in their diet, as it has phyto estrogens, a hormone essential for bone health.
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Q.
I am a fifty-year-old man. I have been diagnosed with type II diabetes. I would like to know which foods can I eat and which foods should I avoid?
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Ans.
The following diet chart will help you—
Foods to have
- Milk (without cream) (including tea, kheer, curd) -- 550ml
- Paneer/ egg white -- 25gm/one egg white
- Bread/ daliya -- 2 slices or 50 grams
- Dal -- 50 gm
- Chapati -- 150 gm or 6
- Vegetable seasonal -- 500 gm
- Vegetable roots and tubers -- 100 gm
- Fruit -- 100 gm
- Oil -- 10 ml ( 2 teaspoon)
Avoid these foods
- Fried food : Puri, Pakora, Paratha, Samosa
- Sweet : Sugar, Honey, Cake, Chocolate
- Dry Fruits: Peanut, Cashew nut, Date and Raisins
- Cold Drinks : Preserved Juice, Sugar cane Juice, Alcohol, Soft Drinks
- Fruits : Mango, Grapes, Banana, Chiku, Custard Apple, Lichi
- Veg : Potato, Sweet Potato, Bddtroot
- Creamy Milk, Cream, Butter, Ghee, Egg Yolk, Red meat
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