Glycaemic indices if three commonly eaten varieties of Myanmar Banana

In order to provide information for the nutritional management of diabetes mellitus, glycaemic indices (GI) of three varieties of banana commonly eaten in Myanmar were determined using twelve healty women volunteers with normalglucose tolerance. After an 8-10 hour overnight fast, the subjects consumed one kind of selected banana in amount equivalent to 50 g available carbohydrate portion {~ three and a half pieces of Phee-Kyan (189 g); ~four and a half pieces of Rakhine (165 g)~~ three pieces of Thee-hmwe (yellow) (192 g)}. After a week interval, GI was determined for another kind of banana. Venous blood samples were collected and immediately analyzed for plasma glucose by glucose oxidase method.GIs of Myanmar bananas (mean -+ S.E.M) were 51.7 -+ 7.69 percent for Rakhine, 55.29 -+ 5.66 for Phee-Kyan and 63.73 -+ 8.46 for Thee-hmwe (yellow). They were lower than GI of commonly eaten Myanmar rice, Pawsun. Banana also contains vitamins A and C which were not provided by cooked polished rice. Furthermore, banana hasa higher calcium and fibre content. Therefore, all three varieties of Myanamr banana can be recommended as a source of complex carbohydrate with low or moderateGI for diabetic diet

A study on thiamine nutritional status of Khayan Township

As staple food of Myanmar is rice, there is a risk to develop thiamine deficiency. So a study was conducted in Khayan township to assess its thiamine nutritional status. Transketolase enzyme activity stimulation test of 59 pregnant women and 26 lactating mothers were studied and 12.9 per cent of them were found to be in deficient state. Thiamine concentration of breast milk samples collected from 31 lactating mothers was also measured; the mean value was 6.7 + or - 4.3 mcg/100ml. Rice samples were collected from conventinal type rice mills, Huller type rice mills and residences of Paukone village, and their thiamine content were 59.7 + or - 23.6 mcg/100gm (n=5), 66.8 + or - 22.7 mcg/100gm (n=20) and 73.97 + or - 41.2 mcg/100gm (n=26) respectively. Boiled rice samples were also collected from Paukone village and the mean thiamine content was 10.74 + or - 8.73 mcg/100gm (n=33). Thus it seems that thiamine nutritional status of Khayan is not in a satisfactory state.

Analysis of arsenic content in "Khun-hnit-par-shaung" Myanmar indigenous medicine

"Khun-hnit-par-shaung" ( ) indigenous Myanmar medicine has been used widely for the treatment of tingling and numbness of extremities, and for a side variety of the joint disease. It is a mixture of sein-nee-myin-thwa ( ) (As2 S2), kyauk-say-dan ( ) (As2 S3), kant ( ) (sulphur), za-wet-tha ( ) (ammonium chloride), hin-yaing-ni ( ) (mercury II sulphate) let-char ( ) (borax), dotehtar ( ) (copper II sulphate) in equal proportion. Arsenic content of sein-nee-myin-thwa, kyauk-say-dan and the formulated "khun-hnit-par-shaung" medicine was analysed by nuclear method. 66.89 percent of sein-nee-myin-thwa and 36.37 percent of kyauk-say-dan were found to be arsenic. The arsenic content of formulated "khun-hnit-par-shaung" medicine depends on the heating time during the preparation. The content of arsenic in the mixture become higher according to the exposure time of heat.