Insulin promotes blood sugar!

NEW DELHI: Male hormone testosterone promotes respiration while estrogen ��� the female reproductive hormone ��� helps in blood circulation. These aren���t some fancy research findings but contents of NCERT���s science textbook that your child may be reading in school. The book, Science and Technology ��� Textbook for Class VII, is so littered with basic errors that teachers in the Capital find it hard to use it as a guide for teaching.
Sample this: According to the textbook, insulin promotes blood sugar in the body, while it actually controls blood sugar.
Not surprisingly, the medical fraternity in the city is not amused. Doctors have taken strict umbrage at these errors.
Said Dr Nalin Nag, senior consultant, internal medicine, Apollo Hospital: "There is a lot of inadequate, sporadic and wrong information in the book. When these kids grow up and are told otherwise, they wouldn���t know what to believe."
There are other less obvious mistakes as well. According to the book, testosterone and estrogen ���control��� the development of secondary sexual characters in males and females, respectively. "Actually, the two reproductive hormones promote the development of secondary sexual characters in men and women. To say that they control them, is incorrect," said Ranjana Chaturvedi, a science teacher.
Another science teacher, Richa Bhatia, of Modern School, pointed out other errors: "The book says that marasmus is a protein-deficiency ailment, while it actually occurs due to the deficiency of both protein and carbohydrates in the body."a