By Ebele Orakpo

In these days of artificial hair, fingernails, eyelashes, breasts, buttocks, foods, drinks, the list goes on, man has been visited with all kinds of diseases and scientists are advocating that we go back to nature. Professor Ifeoma Enweani is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi campus.

In this chat with Vanguard Learning in her office, she speaks on her research work on the soursop, a tropical plant that has been found to be very good in the control of diarrhoea, a life-threatening condition; and in fighting malnutrition which has been described as a major health problem, especially in developing countries. Excerpts:

According to Prof. Enweani, they have been carrying out several researches one of which is on the soursop. The soursop also called graviola,prickly custard apple, and Brazilian pawpaw, is a tropical plant prevalent in the rain forests of Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia and has been used in folk medicine in many countries.

“One of the research areas we have done is in the use of extracts from the pulp of soursop in the control of diarrhoeal diseases in malnourished children. Some quantity of the extract was administered to some children who had diarrhoea and who were also malnourished and at the end of the study, we realised that the soursop juice was able to control the incidence of diarrhoea and also reduce the level of malnourishment in these children,” she stated.

As a result of that study and the observations made, she believes that the soursop has the answer to both malnutrition and diarrhoea. “So from the result we obtained from that study, we are advocating that this locally available fruit that is very cheap, found in so many homes and taken as fruit ordinarily and is widely accepted, should be administered to children and even adults.

Prof Enweani

Apart from the soursop juice being used in the control of diarrhoea, we noticed that the candida species, one of the organisms that have been incriminated in diarrhoea, could be controlled using the soursop juice extract.

“Most people look at diarrhoea only from bacterial point of view but we were interested in also checking other causative agents of diarrhoea and one of the ones we looked at was candida species and the one that is most prevalent is candida albicans.

“It was realised that the incidence of candida albicans was also reduced and that shows that if some of these organisms that are the causative agents of diarrhoea could be controlled, then the incidence of diarrhoea and by extension, malnutrition, will be reduced,” she stated.

Calling on Nigerians to go back to their local foods, Prof. Enweani said: “We are among those advocating that Nigerians should go back to their local, readily available and cheap foods which do not have preservatives. And if you notice, the trend of diseases in recent times has changed drastically and I believe that if we go back to our local foods, a lot of these adverse effects will be controlled in a few years to come.”

Continuing, Enweani said she believes the soursop has antibacterial and antiviral properties. “There are some components of the soursop apart from the vitamins, at least we all know that every fruit has some vitamins.

“Apart from that, all the components that are naturally possessed by plants, you can think of flavonoids, you can think of potassium, you can think of tannins, calcium etc., so when all these things are in a natural fruit, no matter what technology does, you can never compare it with what God has composed by Himself. So in the natural environment, the quantity and the nature are already there and when these things are taken holistically from nature, they are more effective and they are also fresh.

But when you think of going to compose them in the pharmaceutical industry, certain antibiotic ingredients in these plants are lost due to processing but in the natural environment, all these things are there and they take care of some of the ailments in the body.”

On the seeming disconnect between researchers and industry, Prof. Enweani said: “One of the things we also are advocating is that there should be a link between the universities, the research institutions and the industry. Whether the industry is just starting or is well established, there should be a kind of connection so that the problems either in the society or in the industry, could be solved. That is what makes a country to progress technologically and become a developed nation.

But in Nigeria, we notice that there is a lot of disconnect, even though a lot of money is pumped into research in some areas, there is not much to show for the amount of fund being expended. So there should be a way of connecting the two – it could be by a law or some establishment or parastatal in the country to take it up.

“They should take into consideration the issue of having an establishment; for instance, the universities in a state can link up with all the industries and each university will know where its strength lies and link up with the industry that has the need for its area of strength. I don’t believe that every university must be a know-it-all.

I know that every university has its areas of strength and weakness. So some of these things will help so that this great nation that has been blessed with so many resources can forge ahead and one day, will also be a developed nation.”