There has been a swell of warnings by nutrition specialists and bloggers, particularly in the social media, on the increasing danger that most of the factory-manufactured foods, snacks and drinks pose to human health.

Diseases like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), cancers, strokes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, and others have become major health challenges in our society.

More worrisome is that some of these diseases, which were once associated with people in their middle ages and the elderly, have now started affecting teenagers and younger children. Artificial foods and drinks have been contributing towards making our society sicker and more vulnerable to these lethal illnesses.

It comes as no surprise that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, is warning against the prevalence of poisonous bread in the markets. NAFDAC’s South West Coordinator, Roseline Ajayi, recently alerted that bread sold in the markets are “failing laboratory tests” because bakers have resorted to the use of saccharine, a cheaper sugar substitute, since the price of sugar hit the roof in recent years. Prolonged exposure to saccharine causes obesity, diabetes, hypertension, colorectal cancer and others.

According to Ajayi: “They (bakers) are introducing ingredients that are not good for the health of consumers”.

The use of dangerous substances by providers of commercial foods, such as restaurateurs, bakers, greengrocers and others to remain profitable in this atmosphere of extreme inflation, is a big danger that people face. Restaurant operators have been known to use red oil substitutes that turn pinkish-red with a congealed surface like emulsion paint when the food (soup or stew) gets cooled.

Popular fast foods, especially breads and pastries, are largely unregulated. Even the bread made with white wheat flour and sugar which NAFDAC considers safe for human consumption fuel these harbingers of early death among our urban population who consume them daily.

The situation of health emergency posed by our exposure to factory-produced foods and worsened by galloping inflation, drives people to more dangerous substitutes. It goes beyond what NAFDAC can handle alone.

There is a need for multi-sectoral advocacies for Nigerians to return to our native foods and drinks to prevent chronic diseases and early deaths. The dangers of consuming products of unhealthy bleached wheat, refined sugar, macaroni, noodles, pastas, cakes, edible creams, sodas and alcohols must also be drummed up.

Food is supposed to be medicine. Healthy food should be able to help the body prevent and fight diseases. Any food or drink that brings diseases to the human body must be declared poisonous.

Awareness will enable people to make the right choices.