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The Hindu
15-05-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Antioxidant-rich diet lowered risk of acute respiratory infection and anaemia associated with air pollution in children: Study
A new study has highlighted the importance of an antioxidant-rich balanced diet for neutralising adverse health effects of air pollution exposure to some extent in Indian children under five. The study was published in Frontiers in Public Health on May 9. Exposure to air pollution (particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less -PM2.5) can result in acute respiratory illness (ARI) and anaemia in children. A team of researchers from St John's Medical College, Bengaluru, IIT Delhi and Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, New Delhi, investigated if antioxidant nutrient intakes could mitigate the impact of PM2.5 on child health outcomes in India. The researchers studied 2,08,782 children with valid ARI and 1,97,289 children with valid hemoglobin measurements. The prevalence of ARI and anaemia were 2.8% and 57.6% respectively. Acute respiratory infections and anaemia are major contributors to childhood morbidity and mortality globally. Children are highly susceptible to these conditions due to their developing immune systems and higher metabolic needs. Ambient and household air pollution Anura Kurpad, Professor of Physiology and Nutrition at St John's Medical College, said emerging evidence highlights ambient and household air pollution, particularly fine particulate matter, as a critical environmental risk factor for both ARI and anaemia in children. 'According to the 2023 World Health Statistics, ARI stands as the leading cause of childhood mortality among all infectious diseases. Exposure to PM2.5 has also been shown to increase the risk of anaemia among children,' said Prof Kurpad, who is one of the authors. The researchers triangulated satellite-derived PM2.5 exposure data at the primary sampling unit level, with ARI and anaemia prevalence data from national district-level survey, and antioxidant nutrient intakes from household food expenditure survey. Logistic mixed effects regression model was used to estimate the effect of PM2.5 at different levels of nutrient intake. The study found that higher intake of certain antioxidant nutrients such as vitamins A, C and D, as well as minerals like zinc and selenium lowered the risk of ARI associated with high PM 2.5 exposure. Higher intakes of these nutrients could similarly lower the risk of anaemia. 'When translating these nutrients to foods, similar benefits were observed with daily consumption of small amounts of fruits and vegetables. This highlights the potential of increasing dietary diversity with more fruit and vegetable intake, in reducing the adversity of air pollution exposure in children,' said Prof Kurpad. Qualitative evidence The researchers concluded that the findings from this study should be treated as qualitative evidence of potential moderation of the air pollution and health association by antioxidants and antioxidant rich food groups. 'These results highlight the potential of dietary strategies in mitigating the adverse effects of air pollution. However, the evidence now needs validation by community-based invention studies or randomised control trials with select antioxidants. While long-term solutions must focus on reducing the root causes of air pollution, such structural changes may take time, especially in developing countries like India. In this context, food-based approaches - particularly increasing the intake of fruits and vegetables—may offer a feasible and complementary pathway to protect vulnerable populations,' the study stated.
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
RBI eases FPI rules on corporate bonds to boost foreign inflows
The central bank Thursday eased rules for foreign portfolio investors (FPI) to buy local corporate bonds by lifting caps on short-term debt investment limits at a time rate differentials between India and the US are at the narrowest in recent memory. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Long-Term Commitments The central bank Thursday eased rules for foreign portfolio investors (FPI) to buy local corporate bonds by lifting caps on short-term debt investment limits at a time rate differentials between India and the US are at the narrowest in recent memory.'On a review, and with a view to providing greater ease of investment to FPIs, it has been decided to withdraw the requirement for investments by FPIs in corporate debt securities to comply with the short-term investment limit and the concentration limit,' the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revised rules, effective immediately, are aimed at boosting FPI investments in corporate bonds. Latest NSDL data showed that FPIs utilised only 14.5% of the available investment limit as on May 7. The proportion was 15.7% a year ago.'Easing of these rules will give FPIs flexibility on how much to invest and in which debt securities without having to worry about breaching regulatory caps,' said Meeta Kurpad, Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. 'This gives them the opportunity to construct their portfolios and exit plans."Before easing of these rules, investments by FPIs in corporate bonds with residual maturity of up to one year was capped at 30% of the total investment of FPIs in corporate bonds. These limits were applied on the end-of-day investments in corporate debt securities by an FPI (including its related FPIs) was capped at 15% of prevailing investment limit for long-term FPIs and 10% for others."The relaxation is for the general route,' Kurpad said. 'The caps in any event didn't apply to investments in the voluntary retention route (VRR), which has more investment flexibility.'According to bond market participants, rules restricting FPI investment in short-term debt instruments need to be seen in the context of the central bank's preferred nature of encouraging long-term flows as short-term flows could potentially impact rates and liquidity.'The easing of rules seems to be more of an enabling factor because there are investors who don't want to take a long-term credit risk,' said Soumyajit Niyogi, director at India Ratings. 'However, it is important to remember that inflows in corporate bonds, where there is significant credit risk compared with sovereign debt, ultimately depend on interest rate differentials between India and the US. Currently, the differential is the lowest in recent times.'In April, the central bank reviewed the limits on FPI investment in government as well as corporate bonds. The RBI maintained the existing cap of 15% for corporate bonds for the current financial the upper limit for foreign investments in corporate bonds was set at Rs8.2 lakh crore for the first half and Rs8.8 lakh crore for the second half.
