siliconindia | | November 20179ties and helps in protecting the body from the damaging effects of free radicals. Also, Selenium boosts the immune system and therefore pre-vents tumour growth. Eating shrimps can trigger the release of appetite hormones. They contain a lot of pro-tein and when consumed they form a substance known as peptide, which triggers appetite hormones like cho-lecystokinin. This way, a person consuming shrimps can get back the lost appetite.Consuming shrimps means giv-ing body the required Omega-3 fat-ty acids. Omega-3 helps in keeping the nerve systems healthy, prevents blood clots and thus helps in keep-ing heart diseases at bay. Millions of people suffer from Arthritis and the early onset of the disease has now be-come a cause for concern; it is mostly the women who fall prey to arthritis, making it difficult for them to carry out the daily chores. Calcium and Phosphor rich diet is recommended to prevent and delay the onset of ar-thritis. Shrimps are rich in Calcium and Phosphor and therefore strength-en the bones. Other benefits of eating shrimp include lesser risk of depres-sion, hypothyroidism, and prevention of anaemia and better functioning of thyroid glands. Their consumption can also prevent premature ageing.Encouraging domestic consumptionThough India is one the largest pro-ducer of shrimp, the local consump-tion hasn't gained much steam. This is however seeing a turnaround, thanks to increasing awareness about shrimps and their health benefits. The widely prevalent misconception about shrimp consumption is that of cholesterol, which is not true, in fact. They contain moderate levels of Cholesterol that is much lower than in egg. The fat is mainly made up of long chain Omega-3 highly un-saturated fatty acids (HUFA). HUFA prevents the risk of heart attacks. The belief that `fresh' shrimps are better than the frozen ones is another mis-conception. Culturally we are not aligned with frozen food. We always prefer to buy fresh. Fresh seafood when hygienically packed and fro-zen will remain fresh for more than a year. And when bought from reliable sources, consumers can safely rest assured on the quality and freshness of frozen seafood. Most shrimps produced in India are for the export market. Creat-ing a market within India will make for a healthy living for its people. Making them available across the country will also contribute to high-er consumption. Today, shrimps are mostly available for consumption in states where they are farmed, most-ly the coastal states. Poor cold-chain is a major reason for the low growth of the domestic processed shrimp market. Encouraging investment in logistics and cold-chain infrastruc-ture will do wonders for the seafood market across length and breadth of India. Given the current trend that our aqua farmers are mostly dependent on international market, nurturing domestic market for the protein-rich shrimps will go a long way in the growth of industry.Coming to the affordability fac-tor, the prices of shrimp might still be higher in the market, but with the ris-ing disposable income and increased awareness on their health benefits, there is a steady shift in people's choice of food, from meat products to shrimps. This shift has been evi-dent in other emerging economies like China and Brazil that were once the exporters and have now turned into net importers of this protein rich food. And in the days to come, undoubtedly, India too might go that way. Shrimps are rich in protein and are well balanced in all the essential amino acids. Numerous studies have shown that Indian dietary habits are deficient in proteinRamakanth V. Akula
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