THE GUArDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com
Saturday, February 15, 2014 53
COVEr
‘Majority Of Nigerians Do Not Eat Nutritionally Balanced Meals’ The Managing Director of Bask Nutrition and Herbs Ltd., Dr. Patience Ikeme Ogbuli-a seasoned nutritionist, offers insight into various questions bothering on the relationship between nutrition and wellbeing. By Ekwy P. Uzoanya Why emphasise nutrition in wellbeing? UNDAMENTAl to each individual’s needs is an adequate supply of essential nutrients to nourish body cells, provide energy for maximum work capacity and recreational activities, support mental functions, prevent and fight infections, and buffer the effects of daily stress. Today, we know that nutrients not only prevent deficiency symptoms but also promote good health and reduce the risks of many chronic metabolic and degenerative diseases. According to a German proverb, a man is what he eats. Science is showing that we are subject to the consequences of the essential nutrients we neglect in our diets. It is possible to obtain adequate amounts of health promoting nutrients from foods, if the food chain is favourable to the nutrients. A simple step of doubling the five daily recommended vegetable intakes to 10, while staying within the recommended calorie level, will help to better nourish and protect the body against infections and diseases, reduce the risk of constipation and control obesity. We must also pay attention to preparation and cooking methods of these fruits and vegetable. Most of our green vegetables are eaten cooked, wherein great amounts of the nutrients are destroyed or leached away in the preparatory processes. It is recommended that we enjoy our fruits and vegetables raw in order to obtain the nutritional values of these foods What kinds of food are good or harmful to the body? When it comes to classifying food as good or harmful, it can simply be put that foods, which nourish the body and support optimal functioning of the body systems are good. Nutrients from the foods we eat are basically classified into carbohydrates, proteins, fats,
F
Ogbuli vitamins and minerals. Carbohydrates such as rice, yams, cassava, corn and plantains are energy giving foods. They provide the body with fuel to continue to perform its functions. Protein foods such as meat, fish, milk, different kinds of beans help provide essential compounds which the body uses to build muscles, maintain the body cells and support the production hormones, enzymes and other substances which the body uses to sustain life. Fats provide energy in high concentrations but are also necessary for support and protection of internal body organs. They even serve as carriers for some vitamins and help in lubrication. Vitamins and minerals support the body skeleton and act as catalysts. For example, they initiate and support many bodily functions, notably the life sustaining repetitive functions in the body. Vitamins and minerals are abundant in fruits, vegetables and milk. Harmful foods, on the other hand, supply more than the body can normally handle. This includes foods high in sugar, very high in starch and fat. Frequent and reasonable consumption of these foods disrupt the normal functioning of the body systems, resulting in acute or chronic poor health conditions. What is the role of lifestyle, for example, smoking, drinking of alcohol and certain beverages on human health?
A lifestyle of eating essential foods in moderation, getting adequate sleep and exercise promotes good health. However, the habit of smoking is very detrimental to health. The harmful effects of smoking include breathing problems, lung diseases, and cancer of the mouth, throat and lungs. The habit of drinking alcohol is damaging to the liver, which is the body’s powerhouse. The excess calories from alcohol result in accumulation of fat in the body, especially in the belly and cause the liver to be fatty. Of course, alcohol intoxication is known to cause many problems including loss of good judgment, depression, marital problems, poverty and even death. How does urban living affect what the people eat nowadays? Urban living can be good or bad depending on how it impacts income and the available living spaces. Urban living, for the low-income earners increases the risk of malnutrition because most of the income is usually devoted to rent, transportation and education. Working long hours and spending reasonable times commuting to and from work make it difficult for people to eat nutritionally balanced meals regularly. It is not surprising that food vendors supply approximately 60 per cent of daily energy intakes. Most people miss the important breakfast meal because of the rush to get to work on time. Even school children experience the same challenges. Truth be told, the majority of Nigerians do not eat nutritionally balanced meals, especially enough fruits and vegetables. Even the elite who have enough money for food do not pay serious attention to fruits and vegetables. What is the connection between nutrition and cancer, diabetes? yes, the incidences of cancer and diabetes are on the rise and have reached epidemic level in many parts of the world, including Nigeria. Here is the link. Obesity, being extremely overweight and or accumulation of body fat in excess of amounts which support good health, is a result of poor nutrition. Obesity can lead to diabetes by blunting the ability of the body cells to recognise insulin, the hormone that carries blood sugar to the storage sites. The pancreas, the organ which produces insulin, is then fooled because of high blood sugar to continuously produce insulin. The continued secretion of more insulin results in exhaustion of the
pancreas and other abnormalities resulting in diabetes. This type of diabetes is type II diabetes. The body grows or renews worn out cells through a process of cell division. When serious abnormal changes occur in the process of cell division, often resulting in rapid growth of cells, to the extent that the body cannot control the process any longer, this is what is described as cancer. For example, obesity having blunted the ability of the body cells to respond to insulin, creates a situation of high insulin level, the high levels of insulin can start a domino effect in the production of certain key hormones (including male and female sex hormones) and activities of body substances which can ultimately lead to cancer. On the positive side, some nutrients have been found not only to help nourish the body cells but also retard the onset of conditions in the body which cause cancer. These nutrients include considerable amounts of vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, selenium, retinoids, essential fatty acids, isothiocyanates and allyl compounds and retaining sufficient level of these elements in the body. Health professionals should try to incorporate nutritional counseling and recommendation of balanced diets as prevention strategy to promote good health and prevent early onset of chronic condition such as diabetes and cancer. What is the daily value recommended value for the nutrients for one to be quite healthy? recommended dietary allowances (rDA) or reference daily intakes (rDI) of nutrients are the levels or the amounts of nutrients an individual would need to take on a daily basis in order to prevent dietary deficiencies of the reference nutrients and maintain good health. Different countries have their own rDAs or rDIs. Countries that have not established daily values often make use of ideas from other countries. For example, the United States of America recommends that not more than 20 to 25 per cent of daily energy should come from fat, 45 to 65 per cent from carbohydrates and 10 to 30 per cent from proteins. They also recommend five servings of fruits and vegetable daily. As a nutritionist, I would recommend doubling the servings of fruits and vegetables to 10, and combining fruits and vegetable with deep and varying colours.
‘Cancer Has Increased Because We Have Changed Our lifestyles’ Chairman Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Lagos State Chapter,Dr. Francis Faduyile, told DEBO OLADIMEJI that hypertension, diabetes and cancers are increasing in Nigeria because of wrong lifestyles. Why are Nigerians dying of diseases like cancer, kidney failure among other diseases? ENErAlly, we have two main types of illnesses that affect human beings. The first type is communicable diseases. That is the one that can be transmitted from one person to the other. Then we have what we called non communicable diseases (NCDs). Example of communicable diseases are cholera, malaria, typhoid among others. The non-communicable diseases are diseases that cannot be communicated from one person to the other. Example of that are hypertension, diabetes, kidney failure and cancer. Over the years, Nigeria has been battling with so many communicable diseases. It has been one of the major causes of deaths. But all over the world, we are having a greater
G
resurgence of non-communicable diseases. Diabetes, and hypertension especially, is generally known as a silent killer. It does not show until it is about to kill. The only way we can know it is when we go for regular blood pressure checks. It is important for every one of us to continue to check our blood pressure at least once in six month as we grow older. One of the things that can lead to hypertension is our lifestyles. Some people are living a sedentary life. We need to watch what we eat, our dietary habits. By the time we are becoming obese, we are likely to have hypertension. If you are taking in too much salt, if you are the type who is always running up and down, it is likely you will have hypertension. Same can be said of diabetes mellitus, it has a lot to do with our way of life. It could be also be due to genetic factor. Eating high-energy concentrated foods, living a sedentary life and not eating right can trigger diabetes mellitus. What about kidney failure? We are having a high resurgence of kidney failure in Nigeria. The reason why we are having is of many folds. One of the most important reasons is the indiscriminate use of drugs. We now use all sorts of drugs and chemicals. It is the kidney that
washes our blood to take off these chemicals. Sometimes the chemical knocks out the kidney. Unfortunately, people are not aware of the effect of those drugs they are taking in. Go to any bus stop, you see all sorts of roots. Even on the television you hear all sorts
Faduyile
of things about drugs. Apart from that, the way we treat some of the communicable illnesses like diarrhoea and typhoid fever, sometimes, might lead to a very low blood volume that may make the kidney not to have enough blood to work with. That can lead to acute renal failure. It is highly treatable. But many a time, once a patient has acute renal failure, they don’t go to orthodox hospitals. They go to all sorts of places where other chemical that can destroy the kidney are being used. Subsequently, those patients will come down with chronic renal failure. By and large, the major reason why we are having very high incidence of kidney failure is because of our indiscriminate use of drugs. Secondly, our poor treatment of illnesses that will have effect on the kidney. How do we prevent cancer? The developed countries have been able to control to a large extent communicable diseases. One of the major diseases that are killing them is cancer. Cancer has also increased in Nigeria because we have changed our lifestyles. Virtually, all types of cancer have been related to obesity. It is very unfortunately that Africans, Nigerians inclusive, had
taken to the way in which the white men live. We eat their foods and we perform their activities. That is making us not to eat our green fresh vegetables-things that are beneficial to our body. We are rather eating all sorts of junk foods. That one has trigger cancer. Cancer is now growing in alarming rate. There are some things that we have to do. The causes of cancer are majorly not known. Some of them may have familiar tendency though. Apart from the genetic factors, cancer can be caused by our way of life. A person who is a smoker is likely to have lung cancer. It has been proven that those who have had some viral infections of the lever, like hepatitis, may have cancer of the liver in subsequent years. It has been found out that some of our eating habits can lead to cancer of the colon. The unfortunate thing is that a person who smokes has less exposure to carcinogenic chemicals than a person who is staying beside him, because the smoke that burns out has more harmful chemicals. That is why it is good for you not to be a passive smoker. Even if you are not smoking and you are amidst friends that smoke, you are also liable to have cancer of the lungs