India epidemiological study

Another aspect of the chronic toxicity of aflatoxin in man is the occurrence of cirrhosis in children in parts of India. Epidemiological studies have again supported the hypothesis that aflatoxin is involved but in this case an unfortunate accident has provided even stronger evidence. A protein supplement was being fed to Indian children suffering from kwashiorkor before it was discovered that samples of the material contained 300 /xg aflatoxins/kg. Although the children were then transferred to a healthy diet, a close medical follow-up of their condition has demonstrated the appearance of lesions identical with those associated with childhood cirrhosis ... 

To date, information on the economic impact of allergy and asthma for many countries with sizable populations, such as India, Indonesia, and China, is unavailable. However, based on epidemiological studies of asthma and allergy within such countries, it is likely that these conditions may account for substantial social and economic burden in these countries as well. One recent study from India provides such an example. Based on a sample of children with mild-to-moderate persistent asthma attending a pulmonary clinic, it was found that nearly two thirds of children had some restriction placed on their play activities because of asthma. The median monthly expenditure on these children s medication was 333 Rupees - about one third of the monthly per capita income [36]. 

Several epidemiology studies have reported increased mortality among workers in viscose rayon plants who were occupationally exposed to carbon disulfide as well as other chemicals (Hemberg et al. 1970, 1973 Tolonen et al. 1975, 1979). Deaths have also been reported in a community in India following an accidental release of large amounts of carbon disulfide, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfuric acid from a viscose rayon plant (Kamat 1994). However, no definitive or consistent conclusions can be drawn from these studies because of concomitant exposure to other chemicals, uncertainty about exposure concentrations, and the likelihood of multiple routes of exposure. 

Food beneficial effects on health have been scientifically confirmed in our days by epidemiological studies, showing that countries such as India and China, where vegetables, fruits, and spices represent an essential part of human diet, have lower incidence of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Valuable properties of mushrooms, earlier mentioned by the Vedas, were also known by Romans that considered them Foods of the Gods and Chinese people that called them Elixir of Life [7]. 

An epidemiological study conducted 1974 in France (Chone, 1977) indicated that of 254,788 cases of death due to heart failure, 269 cases, or 0.11%, were identified as cardiomyopathies that were somewhat similar in histology to the observed cardiomyopathies in rats. Of the 269 cases, there was a significant association with alcohol consumption but not with dietary fat and vegetable oil. This study is of particular interest, since France, like India, is a major consumer of rapeseed oil which until 1974 was of the high erucic acid variety. 

NT159 Bhide, S. V., A. S. Shah, J. Nair, and D. Nagarajrao. Epidemiological and experimental studies on tobacco-related oral cancer in India. lARC Sci Publ 1984 (57) 851-857. 

ICMR. (1989). Indian Council of Medical Research. Epidemiological survey of endemic goitre and endemic cretinism. Report of ICMR Task Force Study, New Delhi, India. Jones, T, Mithal, A. and Kochupillai, N. (1988).. Assoc. Physicians India 36, 13A. 

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