By SOLA OGUNDIPE

A PROFESSOR of pharmacology and former Chairman of the defunct Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,  Professor Maurice Iwu, has called on Nigerians to consume food products produced within their immediate environment as a means of reducing and ultimately eliminating the risk of contracting Non Communicable Diseases, NCDs.

Iwu, who is currently Chairman of a natural products and biological resources research outfit known as Bioresources Development Group, BDG, disclosed that consumption of simple, plant-based foods leads to a healthier life.

“If you are in Lagos, the food you eat should be produced nearby. The furtherest should be Ogun State. Beyond that, there is a lot of risk. Anytime you eat outside your environment, there is a risk. If you do not eat food produced in Nigeria, even if it is produced in Sao Tome, during transportation, there is tendency for it to pick up all sorts of pathogens.

“Even the whole idea of preservation is ultimately not beneficial as the food is likey to pick up chemicals. When packaging, it also picks up chemicals, so the best approach is to eat what you have where you are,” he remarked.

Growing menace of NCDs
Lamenting the growing incidence and menace of NCDs on the in-roads being made by Genetically Modified Organisms, he blamed the trend on the existence of phytochemicals, and lack of dedication and focus on agriculture by government.

“When you want to solve a problem you move away from the mindset with which the problem was created. Government is mistaking agriculture for farming the way it is talking. Farming is important but not near what we can make from investment in science and technology at the next level.

We have a lot to offer in agriculture, and if we play it right, we can make Nigeria great in food production. Money that can be made from agric ulture can compete favourably with the electronic age that we are in now.’

Iwu who said although a lot of people see natural supplements as an add-on, but it is indeed a whole different discipline in pharmacy, opined that  rather than treating diseases, scientists  are trying to prevent diseases from happening in the first place.

Investment: “I have calculated that if we invest N1 billion only in the secondary faculties of agriculture and the technology universities and give them a kind of challenge grant, we would be able to create millions of jobs and create wealth. As a bonus, an enormouis amount of food would be available for us all. People would be less dependent on crude oil and better things could happen.”

In collaboration with the US Military, Iwu, who  worked at the US Army Centre  for Diseases Control between1994 and 2003, from where he took up the INEC appointment, said the research centre recently teamed up with the University of Jos and won the  centre of excellence of the World Bank to set up a phytomedicine research programme.

Nsukka laboratory: Prior to this, he helped set up a private laboratory at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka,  owned 100 percent by Nigerians, and carries out  botanical research, processes medicinal plants, with a full library of formulated natural produts and is helping train graduates in the field. “We want to see if we can promote the cycle. We have developed a programme in which people are taught the epigenetic exercises,  most discussion on health.

“Almost all NCDs have origin in  the womb, this why it is necessary that the more you pamper  the  pregnant woman, the better the health of society will be.

It is important to realise that 90 percent of diseases suffered in old age  are formed before birth,  so whatever happens to a pregnant woman determines the life and fate of the child, Epigenetics does not affect the genetic makeup, rather it is an add on.  If you have  a pregnant woman exposed to chemicals, her children will bear the brunt later on in life. If you have a woman who takes GMO food which has been genetically programmed, you may not see the effects immediately but it appears later in life because there has been a coding.

Food as medicine
Arguing for promotion of the concept  that some food substances can indeed be used as medicine, the former INEC Chairman said there are many foods that can be used for management of diseases such as diabetes, HIV, etc,.

“We are telling people to exercise because there are diseases that can be treatable by exercise alone without drugs, but that whole aspect is not being promoted.  “Food as medicine is a concept we are promoting in the country.  The father of modern medicine said ‘let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine thy food’, this is a concept we are trying to revive.”

Overprocessed foods: He recalled a 1983 Chinese study that found that the smallest intake of meat increases cancer risk and raises cholesterol levels.

“Plant-based diet is healthy. In a normal African setting, meat is more of a garnish, but now, it is the opposite. There is change in the dietary patterns. The Chinese study found clear correlation between  diet and health and also affirmed that certain diseases go along economic patterns. It was discovered that diseases of affluence include the cancers while diseases of poverty include infectious and metabolic diseases.

“What is bad for us as Africans and Nigerians is that after the China study, the West became more health conscious  and are now eating differently, taking in  more fibre and fruits, but our own rich people, now because they believe they have arrived, eat what the white man no  longer eats. The reverse doesn’t happen in the West.”