Class 7 students of Dhirubhai Ambani International School Dharam Ashar and Mudit Agarwala, both 12-year-olds, have found that having a banana with a glass of water can energise the body better than any energy drink.
And for their research, they received an award by the ministry of Chemical Technology and Fertilizers.
After analysing nine samples, Ashar and Agarwala found that energy and sports drinks have more negative effects on health and cognitive processes, and are less beneficial than packaged juices.
“We found that all such drinks have high amount of sugar, except the diet versions, and none of them increased concentration. Instead, having a banana or stevia with water can have the same effect minus the harmful effects,’’ they said.
Meanwhile, Devika Pradhan and Anubhav Sarkar of Lilavatibai Podar School in Santa Cruz won the popular choice award at the IRIS 2012 for their model of methodological farming using a progressively decreasing tower, using parabolic mirrors at different angles. The method will help farmers to grow different crops at different layers, minimising land usage.
Swarali Chodnekar, 12, is another city student who won the national-level Igenius scholarship of 2012 of Rs10 lakh.
Also, Amandeep Kaur from Punjab University, Navdeep S Jamwal from CSK Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Bharathi R. Ramadoss from Tamil Nadu University, and Bharath Reddy from Texas A&M University were awarded the Monsanto Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Programme Research Fellowships 2012 for encouraging new plant breeding research for rice and wheat production among young scientists.
