Business Health

Soy protein milk - a wonder solution to many diseases

Overweight could emerge as the single most important public health problem in adults. The WHO predicts that by 2010 India will have 100 million heart patients. The WHO has warned that in coming years that hypertension will start spreading like an epidemic if not controlled now.

Hypertension, diabetes and obesity are the three risk factors. Obesity in young people can cause illnesses such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, liver disease and type two diabetes, a disease in which the body has trouble converting food into energy, resulting in high blood sugar levels.

A study reveals that by 2015 India will have the world's largest diabetic population with most of these patients being under the age of 40 years.

Sri Lanka too will have to face a similar plight due to wrong food habits. Always look for high fibre foods such as brown rice coarse grains which has B complex vitamins. Soy protein milk is the only cholesterol free plant milk rich in soluble fibre, B vitamins and many micro nutrients and high in calcium.

It is great for heart health diabetes and osteporosis. It helps reduce menopausal problems in elderly women and contributes for bone health due to high calcium content.

Above all it is great for children in the critical years of child growth and brain development as it is known to contribute memory power. Now it is available as soy protein milk powder unflavoured, and in flavours vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavours, marketed by Millers PLC under Classic brand.

There is soy protein milk shakes also in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavours which is great for children.

Soy protein oaty porridge with high protein soy crispies marketed under Super Sun brand is a great heart health product and an ideal solution to both diabetics and people with high blood pressure as a product rich in very high plant protein and soluble fibre and at the same time both soy protein and oats reduces cholesterol.

It can be prepared anywhere by just adding boiling water and mixing. All these products are 100 per cent vegetarian health products meant for all ages.

Predictions for trends in health care

As costs and the numbers of uninsured keep trending upward, health care has emerged as the most important domestic issue of 2008.

PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute's predictions for the top eight health industry issues of the coming year: Hospital coffers will feel the impact of a new Medicare reimbursement system that's designed to better recognize the severity of patient illnesses.

Specialty hospitals and others that see less acutely ill patients could see their revenues decline, while urban hospitals that treat sicker patients could benefit.

Increased oversight and authority by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration may boost the public's trust in drug safety, but also could add to the regulatory burdens on pharmaceutical companies. The FDA now may require drug companies to conduct additional clinical trials to assess risks associated with a drug after it has been released to the public.

A surge in the number of retail health clinics, such as those in drug stores, will force states, payers and policymakers to think about the best ways to deliver primary care.

Hospitals could benefit from retail clinics if they draw uninsured patients, while pharmaceutical companies may need to market more to the nurse practitioners who run the clinics.

The market for individual health insurance could get much broader if other states and the federal government follow the lead of Massachusetts, which requires that all residents have coverage. Individual coverage also could get a boost from Republican proposals for tax incentives to help consumers buy individual policies.

Retirees are playing a greater role in funding their health-care coverage, whether they like it or not. As the population ages and health-care costs increase, employers are shifting more responsibility for retiree coverage to the retirees.

In a PricewatehouseCoopers survey of multinational company executives, 73 per cent said they needed to reduce contributions to retiree health coverage and cap benefits.

Big pharmaceutical companies, groaning under the high price of drug development, will keep buying and collaborating with life-science companies to stock their product pipelines. But biogenerics - generic copies of biological drugs - could crimp drug company revenues.

New IRS rules will mandate that nonprofit hospitals uniformly disclose more details about the community benefits they provide, such as charity care. Hospitals also will have to be more forthcoming about executive salaries and benefits, because of pressure to justify their tax-exempt status.

Asia is poised to become the world's largest pharmaceutical consumer and producer. American drug companies have increased their marketing and clinical trials in Asia because of the market's size, increasing wealth and growing awareness of health-related issues. On the production side, much of Asia provides high-quality, inexpensive labor.

But watch out: Several Asian drug companies aim to become worldwide pharmaceutical powerhouses, not just contract manufacturers.