Vitamin D

Vitamins are substances that your body needs to grow and function normally. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, one of the main elements that make up bones. Vitamin D plays an important role in the nervous, muscular and immune systems. 

You can get vitamin D in three ways: through the skin, from the diet, and from supplements. Your body forms vitamin D naturally after exposure to the sun. However, too much sun can lead to aging and skin cancer, so many people try to get their vitamin D from other sources. 

Food's rich in vitamin D include egg yolks, saltwater fish, and liver. Other foods, such as milk and cereal, are often fortified with vitamin D. You can also take vitamin D supplements. Check with your health care provider to find out the right amount for you. People who may need more vitamin D include:

- Old people.

- Breastfed babies.

- Dark-Skinned people.

- People with certain conditions such as liver disease, cystic fibrosis, and Crohn's disease.

- People who are obese or those who have had gastric bypass surgery.

Pandemic

 

A pandemic is a epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of people. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of infected people is not a pandemic. Widespread endemic diseases with a stable number of infected people such as recurrences of seasonal influenza are generally excluded as they occur simultaneously in large regions of the globe rather than being spread worldwide. 

Throughout human history, there have been a number of pandemics of diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis. The most fatal pandemic in recorded history was the Black Death (also known as The Plague), which killed an estimated 75-200 million people in the 14th century. The term was not used yet but was for later pandemics including the 1918 incluenza pandemic (Spanish flu). Current pandemics include COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) and HIV/AIDS.

A pandemic is an epidemic ocurring on a scale that crosses international boundaries, usually affecting people on a worldwide scale. A disease or condition is not a pandemic merely because it is widespread or kills many people; it must also be infectious. For instance, cancer is responsible for many deaths but is not considerer a pandemic because the disease is neither infectious nor contagious.

Public Health

Public health is «the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting human health through organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals». Analyzing the health of a population and the threats is the basis for public health. The «public» in question can be as small as a handful of people, an entire village or it can be as large as several continents, in the case of a pandemic.

«Health» takes into account physical, mental and social well-being. It is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, according to the World Health Organization. Public health is interdisciplinary. For example, epidemiology, biostatistics and health services are all relevant. Environmental health, community health, behavioral health, health economics, public policy, mental health and occupational safety, gender issues in health, sexual and reproductive health are other important subfields.

Public health aims to improve the quality of life through prevention and treatment of disease, including mental health. This is done through the surveillance of cases and health indicators, and through the promotion of healthy behaviors. Common public health initiatives include promoting handwashing and breastfeeding, delivery of vaccinations, suicide prevention and distribution of condoms to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Modern public health practice requires multidisciplinary teams of public health workers and professionals. Teams might include epidemiologists, biostatisticians, medical assistants, public health nurses, midwives or medical microbiologists. Depending on the need environmental health officers or public health inspectors, bioethicists, and even veterinarians, Gender experts, Sexual and reproductive health specialists might be called on. Access to health care and public health initiatives are difficult challenges in developing countries. Public health infrastructures are still forming in those countries.

The focus of a public health interventionis to prevent and manage diseases, injuries and other health conditions through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors, communities and environments. Many diseases are preventable through simple, nonmedical methods. For example, research has shown that the simple act of handwashing with soap can preventthe spread of many contagious diseases. In other cases, treating a disease or controlling apthogen can be vital to preventing its spread to others, either during and outbreak of infectious disease or through contamination of food or water supplies.

Public health communications programs, vaccination programs and distribution of contoms are examples of common preventive public health measures. Measures such as these have contributed greatly to the health of populations and increases in life expectancy. Public health plays an important role in disease prevention efforts in both the developing world and in developed countries through local health systems and non-governmental organizations.

Functional Food

A functional food is a food given an additonal function (often one related to health-promotion or disease prevention) by adding new ingredients or more of existing ingredients. The term may also apply to traits purposely bred into existing edible plants, such as purple or gold potatoes having enriched anthocyanin or carotenoid contents, respectively. 

Functional foods may be "designed to have physiological benefits and/or reduce the risk of chronic disease beyond basic nutritional functions, and may be similar in appearance to conventional food and consumed as part or a regular diet". The term was first used in Japan in the 80s where there is a government approval process for functional foods called Foods for Specified Health Use (FOSHU).

The functional food industry, consisting of food, beverage and supplement sectors, is one of the several areas of the food industry that is experiencing fast growth in recent years. It is extimated that the global market of functional food industry will reach 176.7 billion in 2013 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4%. 

Specifically, the functional food sector will experience 6.9% CAGR, the supplement sector will rise by 3.8% and the functional beverage sector will be the fastest growing segment with 10.8% CAGR. This kind of growth is fueled not only by industrial innovation and development of new products that satisfy the demand of health conscious consumers, but also by health claims covering a wide range of health issues.

Yet, consumer skepticism persists mainly because benefits associated with consuming the products may be difficult to detect. Strict examination of some of the functional food claims may discourage some companies from launching their products. 

Gazpacho and health

Andalusian gazpacho or Gabacho is a cold soup made of raw blended vegetables. A classic of Spanish cuisine, it originated in the southern region of Andalusia. Gazpacho is widely eaten in Spain and Portugal, particularly during the hot summers, as it is refreshing and cool. There are other recipes called gabacho, such as gazpacho manchego, which is very different from Andalusian gazpacho. 

There are also a number of dishes that are closely related to Andalusian gazpacho and often considered variants thereof, such as ajoblanco, salmorejo, pipirrana, porra antequerana (closer to a bread soup), cojondongo and Portuguese gaspacho. Gazpacho has ancient roots. There are a number of theories of its origin, including as a soup ofbread, olive oil, water and garlic that arrived in Spain and Portugal with the Romans and also with the addition of vinegar.

Once in Spain, it became a part of Andalusian cuisine, particularly Córdoba, Seville and Granada, using stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and vinegar, similar to ajoblanco. During the 19th century, the red gazpacho evolved when tomatoes were added among the ingredients. This version was spread internationally. There are many modern variations of gazpacho, often in different colors and omitting the tomatoes and bread in favor of avocados, cucumbers, parsley, watermelon, grapes, meat stock, seafood, and other ingredients.

In Andalusia, most gazpacho recipes typically include stale bread, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, onion and garlic, olive oil, wine, vinegar, water, and salt. 

The turnip

The turnip or whipe turnip (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa) is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. The word turnip is a compound of tur- as in turned-rounded on a lathe and neep, derived from Latin napus, the word for the plant. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock.

In the north of England, Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall and eastern Canada (Newfoundland), turnip (or neep) often refers to rutabaga, a larger, yellow root vegetable in the same genus (Brassica) also known as swede (from "Swedish turnip"). The most common type of turnip is mostly white-skinned apart from the upper 1-6 centimetres, which protrude above the ground and are purple or red or greenish where the sun has hit. 

This above-ground part develops from stem tissue, but is fused with the root. The interior flesh is entirely white. The root is roughly globular; from 5-20 centimetres in diameter, and lacks side roots. Underneath, the taproot (the normal root below the swollen storage root) is thin and 10 centimetres (3,9 in) or more in length; it is trimmed off before the vegetables is sold. 

The leaves grow directly from the above-ground shoulder of the root, with little or no visible crown or neck (as found in rutabagas). Turnip leaves are sometimes eaten as "turnip greens" ("turnip tops" in the UK), and they resemble mustard greens (to which they are closely related) in flavor. Turnip greens are a common side dish in southeastern US cooking, primarily during late fall and winter.

Smaller leaves are preferred, but the bitter taste of larger leaves can be reduced by pouring off the water from the initial boiling and replacing it with fresh water. Varieties of turnip grown specifically for their leaves resemble mustard greens and have small or no storage roots. These include rapini (broccoli rabe), bok choy, and Chinese cabbage. Similar to raw cabbage or radish, turnip leaves and roots have a pungent flavor that becomes milder after cooking.

Turnip roots weigh up to 1 kilogram (2.2 lb), although they are usually harvested when smaller. Size is partly a function of variety and partly a function of the length of time the turnip has grown. Most very small turnips (also called baby turnips) are specialty varieties. These are only available when freshly harvested and do not keep well. Most baby turnips can be eaten whole, including their leaves.

Baby turnips are sold in yellow, orange, and red-fleshed varieties, as well as white-fleshed. Their flavor is mild, so the can be eaten raw in salads like radishes and other vegetables. The benefits derived from turnip husbandry are of great magnitude; light soils are cultivated with profit and facility; abundance of food is provided for man and beast; the earth is turned to the uses for which it is physically calculated, and by being suitably cleaned with this preparatory crop, a bed is provided for grass seeds, wherein they flourish and prosper with greater vigor than after any other preparation.

The first ploughing is given immediately after harvest, or as soon as the wheat seed is finished, either in length or across the field, as circumstances may seem to require. In this state the ground remains till the oat seed is finished, when a second ploughing is given to it, usually in a contrary direction to the first. It is then repeatedly harrowed, often rolled between the harrowings and every particle of root-weeds carefully picked off with the hand; a third ploughing is then bestowed, and the other operations are repeated.

In this stage, if the ground has not been very foul, the seed process. The next part of the process is the sowing of the seed; this may be performed by drilling machines of different sizes and constructions, through all acting on the same principle. A machine drawn by a horse in a pair of shafts, sows two drills at a time and answers extremely well, where the ground is flat, and the drills properly made up.

Ebola virus

Ebola virus (EBOV, formerly designated Zaire ebolavirus) is the sole member of the Zaire ebolavirus species, and the most dangerous of the five known viruses within the genus Ebolavirus. Four of the five known ebolaviruses cause a severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and other mammals, known as Ebola virus disease. The virus and its species were both originally named for Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), the country where it was first described, and was at first suspected to be a new "strain" of the closely related Marburg virus; the virus (but not its species) was renamed to "Ebola virus" in 2010 to avoid confusion.

The EBOV genome is approximately 19.000 base pairs long. It encodes seven structural proteins: nucleoprotein (NP), polymerse cofactor (VP35), (VP40), GP, transcription activator (VP30), VP24, and RNA polymerase (L). It is difficult to study due to the virulent nature of the virus. Ebola virus is one of the four ebolaviruses known to cause disease in humans. It has the higest case-fatality rate of these ebolaviruses, averaging 83% since first described in 1976, although fatality rates up to 90% have been recorded in one epidemic (2002-03).

Mental health

Mental health or behavioral health is a level of psychological well-being, or an absence of a mental disorder; it is the "psychological state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment". From the perspective of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an individual´s ability to enjoy life, and create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) mental health includes "subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one´s intellectual and emotional potencial, among others." WHO further states that the well-being of an individual is encompassed in the realization of their abilities, coping with normal stresses of life, productive work and contribution to their community.

Dieting and Health

Dieting is often in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some people, however, follow a diet to gain weight (usually in the form of muscle). Diets can also be used to maintain a stable body weight.

Diets to promote weight loss are generally divided into four categories: low-fat, low-carbohydrate, low-calorie, and very low calorie. A meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials found no difference between the main diet types (low calorie, low carbohydrate, and low fat), with a 2-4 kilogram weight loss in all studies. At two years, all calorie-reduced diet types cause equal weight loss irrespective of the macronutrients emphasized.

The energy intake from food is limited by the efficiency of digestion and efficiency of utilization. The efficiency of digestion is largely dependent on the type of food being eaten, while efficiency of utilization is affected by a variety of factors, including age, gender, body weight, hormone levels, and many more.