Two stories have renewed discussions on scientific rigour and ethics. The stories were around haldi (turmeric) and litchi.
What is the the Haldi controversy?
The substance that gives haldi its bright yellow hue is curcumin.
They have innumerable virtues like anti-inflammatory, anti-malarial, anti-cancer and, as a piggyback on nanofibres to regenerate bone tissues.
Recently, American scientists have debunked the medicinal value of curcumin in a reputed journal.
They concluded that there was no evidence regarding therapeutic benefits of curcumin and it is a waste of money on researching it to find a new drug.
Curcumin may not make for a classical drug going strictly by the tenets of medicinal chemistry, but it certainly qualifies as an ‘adjunct drug’ to treat some infectious diseases.
So, summarily dismissing curcumin research as wasteful would be like burying a lot of remarkable science around Haldi.
What is the Litchi controversy?
Turns out, eating Litchi and then not eating an evening meal, could be fatal. It kills a lot of children in Muzaffarpur region of Bihar, the litchi capital of India.
Recently, a revelation was made in Lancet. Litchi fruits are laden with naturally occurring toxins like hypoglycin A and methylenecyclopropylglycine.
These could trigger low glucose levels and metabolic derangement among children. The toxins embedded in the fruit reverses all its inherent sugariness.
The dispute began when a set of scientists alleged that the Lancet study did not follow a basic ethical practice in science i.e., acknowledging similar previous findings.
It is called as ‘scientific misconduct’. Truly, the Lancet did swung into action to figure out what went wrong in this case.
