Bhubaneswar: Odia staple food ‘pakhala’, which is widely eaten in most of the households across the state, is an ideal immunity booster to fight against viruses including Covid-19, a study conducted by AIIMS-Bhubaneswar shows.
Pakhala (water-soaked and fermented rice) has several necessary ingredients to fight viral attacks and is a magical immunity booster, researchers at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar said.
According to additional professor of Biochemistry and head of the CCMR Balamurugan Ramadass, who spearheaded the study, Pakhala has anti-inflammatory properties. Moreover, fatty acids present in Torani (fermented water of soaked-rice) have potencies to help one’s body to fight against Covid-19, the researcher added.
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A scholarly article in this regard has also been published by the team of researchers at the Center for Excellence of Clinical Microbiome Research (CCMR), which carried out the study under the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bhubaneswar.
“Pakhala certainly boosts our body’s immunity. I, myself drink at least 500ml of Torani every day before leaving for my work. Not only it boosts immunity in the body, but also the anti-inflammatory property present in the dish can help relieve our pain and bring down our fever,” Ramadass said.
Pakhala has Lactobacillus bacteria too that can help create antibodies in our body. It can also aid in stopping malnutrition issues – especially during the development of fetus in ovary, the researcher further added.
Notably, the dish is prepared by leaving cooked rice in water to ferment overnight. The fermented water is a storehouse of microbes which in turn by-produce short-chain fatty acid (SCFA).
PNN
