The Nation Newspaper

Category: Family Health

  • Sex and the family

    If you watch nature, or videos on nature you would see how important sex is to life.  In some respect, it is a central aspect of male-female relationship.  Second to water and food, all animals seek it, from tiny insects to huge elephants and they all have their ways when it comes to sexual behavior, be it inside water, on the ground, under the ground or in the air. If you send animals to outer space, be sure they would try it out their too.

    Humans too have characteristic human sexual behavior and a wide spectrum of tendencies and actualizations beyond the characteristics.

    Human households normally have more than one person residing and many households have more than one sexes residing.  How many sexes are there?  It is a twenty first century question.  Biblically, there are two sexes, male and female.  The Bible deals with norms.  With the advent of the Internet, the world observes extraordinary sexual characteristics amongst humans which in centuries past, were simply to be hidden and kept from public knowledge.  Be it blessing, be it curse, be it acceptable, be it abominable, there are notable deviations from characteristic human sexual presentations or behavior. Born that way, how does one live within a society that is comfortable with its norms.

    For example, “a hermaphrodite is a person or animal having both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics, either abnormally or (in the case of some organisms) as the natural condition.” (https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=&oq=rape&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4NDKB_enNG561NG563&q=rape+definition&gs_l=hp..1.0l5.0.0.0.189163………..0.RR7nYCH3t6I#q=hermaphrodite+definition).

    “The first hermaphrodite human pictures were created in 1860, when French photographer Gaspard-Felix Tournachon, otherwise known as Nadar, took nine photographs of a young person with a male build and stature, but who might have identified as female. These are considered the first hermaphrodite human pictures in the world, and were reserved only for medical uses. These photographs were never published in mainstream media.” (http://www.newhealthadvisor.com/Hermaphrodite-Human-Pictures.html)

    “A person who is a hermaphrodite has both female and male genital characteristics and can also be called intersex people. This typically means that the organs on the inside are of one sex, while the organs on the outside are of another sex; for example, a hermaphrodite might have a penis and testicles, but inside, there are ovaries and possibly a uterus. In more rare cases, the chromosomes say a person is male or female, but the genitals say otherwise.  It is currently estimated that about one in every 2,000 babies born have “confusing” or ambiguous genitalia. In cases like this, the parents might make the decision to put their child through surgery to determine a physical gender, or they might opt to wait until the child is older and can decide for themselves which gender is dominant in their body and mind.” (http://www.newhealthadvisor.com/Hermaphrodite-Human-Pictures.html)

    Against African culture, a child born with sexual abnormality might be described as a witch or something to disown.  These days, with the pictures on the Internet, we know there are many people in this world with strange sexual characteristics.

    Just as there are physical deviations from normal human characteristics, there are mental and spiritual deviations from characteristic humanity. From molestation and rape to sexual sadism, there is a lot that might be dwelling with today’s humanity and from family to family, what are our challenges and how do we cope?  To be continued.

    Dr. ‘Bola John is a biomedical scientist based in Nigeria and in the USA.   For any comments or questions on this column, please email bolajohnwritings@yahoo.com or call 08160944635

  • Dangerous viral diseases and the urgency of now

    Governments all over the world are struggling to cope with the enormous challenges imposed by falling oil prices; borrowing huge amounts of money and  spending  scarce resources on debt servicing .It is quite unfortunate that  it is at this  time  when the whiplash of global economic situation has  become  most tormenting  that  conflicts, wars  and microbial agents; specifically viruses are daily causing disabilities and deaths. Having been criticized rightly or wrongly for not responding quickly enough to tackle the Ebola virus disease pandemic, the world health organization (WHO) is taking the front seat in the battle to arrest the spread of Zika virus disease . Aspects of the recently launched  global strategy to curb the disease  by the organization include partnership building, funding,information management  and research designed to better understand the neurological malformations associated with the disease . While it is not the priority of any organization to question the constitutional right of a government for policies that go against the fundamental human right of citizens with respect to asking couples to undertake family planning measures in order to avoid pregnancy for any number of  years, it is obvious that in many countries including Nigeria, such a policy if it was meant to control the spread of any disease would  not succeed ,because the resistance would be  for formidable. This implies that a country like Nigeria should not wait for an outbreak such as Zika to occur before going into action. If available statistics are correct, cases of Zika virus disease most of them associated with  brain malformations have been reported in  more than 30 countries and  WHO requires an estimate of over 50 million dollars to begin work on the anti Zika strategy. Birth defects  in women testing positive for the virus include  abnormalities  of the brain, organs of hearing and vision . These are on the increase and the trend is likely to continue while affected countries wait for agencies to pass through  the numerous bureaucratic bottle necks that slow down or even block  major life saving vertical and horizontal decision making processes of the organization. The question then is for how long are the affected countries and others in the firing range of the virus going to wait  ?Perhaps much less  resources would be  needed if actions were taken  early enough.

    The interconnectedness of health matters withother  vital areas of life can not be overstated.

    It is common knowledge that  people who are poor are more likely to fall ill  due to under nutrition and the resultant low capacity of  the body to fight infections , overcome  diseases and remain healthy. Individuals, families and communities with low levels of education  are also most likely to die from various diseases as a result of unbreakable adherence to religion, unhealthy traditional practices, ignorance about afflictions and from little or no financial resources to purchase medicines.For about 70% of  Nigerian Africans in the villages and suburban areas, any disease with clinically significant or frightening symptoms and signs does not require western ways of treatment; it must have etiological  issues rooted in the unseen and unknown. Consequent upon this ,physical ,emotional and financial resources are exhausted on the spiritual and  targeted at the unseen remote control centers, while the affected individual  deteriorates  slowly or rapidly .

    As is currently the case in many parts of the world, it is almost certain that the amount of money allocated to health in the current budget  may not  meet the health demands of Nigerians .It is equally certain that  depending on many  factors, things are going to get worse, before they eventually get better. A lot now depends on what can be done as individuals and communities  to tackle  health related problems; existing and new, by changing  posture from the defensive to offensive ; the urgency of now requires pushing and supporting and not pulling and wedging. Applied to a situation like Lassa hemorrhagic disease(LHD) for an example, if a serious outbreak of the disease was established, going from house to house, estate to estate and from to slum to slum killing rats would expose more people to the disease and increase the number of people dying  as well as  others requiring emergency medical attention.  Effective measures to rid vulnerable communities of rats would be safer and more cost effective.

    Considering the Zikavirus , asking the husband of a beautiful Brazilianwoman to abstain from legitimate sex is punitive , unrealistic and punitive. Even as large scale mosquito spraying using machines mounted on automobiles  is being done in one of the countries worst affected, on, the unwanted effects of insecticides on the environment, women and children creates an additional problem.

    To do what we can effectively hope to given the prevailing circumstances, the problemsof  misinformation, mixed messages , mythopoesis and mythomania have to be clinically addressed. The effects they have on the trajectory of illness and disease are too significant to ignore.Though knowledge, awareness, attitude and illness behavior vary between cultures, those who habitually create myths  and invent stories of conspiracies about diseases and solutions to them cause harm to humanity. They divert attention from realities and frustrate the selfless and unquantifiable sacrifices which scientists and others in the vanguard against these unseen entities make on a daily basis. It makes no sense for an example to call the  virus responsible for Lassa hemorrhagic disease(LHD) a new viral entrant ,since it has been with us for over 50 years though first isolated in 1969. The same goes for the human immune deficiency virus(HIV) type 1, which compared with type 2, operates on a faster lane in terms of illness and diseases spectrum, and it is responsible for infections world wide. HIV type 2 responsible for most of the infections in Africa  operates slowly and is rare outside the African continent. Unfortunately not much is known about this variant .Rather, much of what has been written about  the biology of HIV 2 are assumptions from studies carried out on HIV 1. Though first diagnosed in 1980 among Haitians, and then 1986,in Nigeria (brought in from Ghana), there is DNA evidence that the HIV 1 Virus and it’s subtypes have been around since 1930 or perhaps earlier.

    As concerns the Ebola virus disease(EVD),it will be recalled that the virus was carried into Sierra Leone from another country  when at the time Africans knew next to nothing about  hemorrhagic fevers and their causes, a prominent  religious leader in that country invited patients with advanced stages of the disease to come into the church in Sierra Leone for miracle healing. The consequences of that ill informed, uneducated and ill motivated decision will  for some time  remain for generations of people to talk about

    Like Lassa fever, Ebola virus and it’s sister Marburg  virusare nearly always present . This much is known to health authorities Whereas  the Ebola virus responsible for the Ebola hemorrhagic fever was discovered about 40 years ago(1976), in the forest region  around the Ebola river in Zaire, now the Democratic republic of Congo, Lassa fever virus, responsible for Lassa hemorrhagic fever was discovered 47 years ago(1969) in a town called Lassa in Bornu state.

    Before discussing Zika , the mosquitoes born virus, it is important at this point to note that

    1.These viruses are located in  almost the same geographical  areas  of the world.

    2 In the attempt to create awareness, and inform people,  health educators ,laboratory workers , Doctors and Nurses have been attacked and killed

    3 The viruses responsible for human  immunedeficiency, hemorrhagic fevers(Ebola and Lassa ) are transmitted by animals resident in Africa ,and with whom we share over 90% of our genes, the biological basis of our inheritance. These are the African green monkey, the fruit bat, and the clean attractive looking Multimammate rat respectively

    4 In the process or processes leading to making diagnoses for these conditions, laboratory workers and Medical Doctors  become infected, abandoned and lose their lives

    5 In the course of managing these conditions, Doctors, Nurses other health care providers  and family members  take great risks  and when they die, the hospitals are quickly abandoned.

    The Zika virus is transmitted by the female mosquito AedesEgypti, the same organism that transmit  dengue and yellow fever . Many questions are being asked concerning this mosquito and the virus it transmits. Again there is much ado about mythopoeisis and misinformation.

    Presently outbreak of the disease has been documented in  34  countries ,mainly in the ‘Americas’  and in Cape Verde Like Ebola virus disease, the virus is compartmentalized in the testes and so cases have been registered of men passing the virus to women through their sperm .

    What is important to the Nigerian African however is to understand that the world is now a global village, and the  female, striped AedesEgypti mosquito is here with us and has been with us. We will come to know later, how certain features can be used to know the differences between the adult and larval forms of the female anopheles mosquito and the female AedesEgypti. . Through the blood ,semen and saliva of carriers, the sea and airports, any mosquito born virus can travel across continents. On the other hand it will be far from the truth to say that the Zika virus is not in Nigeria, for a number of reasons; data on subjects like these are usually not available  , but there is enough evidence that up to 30% of Nigerians may be living with the Zika virus

    Physicians and in particular pediatricians have seen cases of microcephaly, the medical condition, where the size of the head of a new born child or infant, measured along the outermost point at the back and two finger breaths above the eyebrows is beyond two standard deviations(SD) smaller than what is considered normal for age and sex. For every pregnant woman booking or coming to register for antenatal care, there are twenty or more others going to prayer houses, staying on without help, or visiting traditional birth attendants. It is therefore difficult to get any reliable statistics of women giving birth to babies with abnormal head shapes and sizes. The stigma associated with such births also push some mothers to commit infanticide when delay in milestones of development become persistent. Another condition found to be associated with the Zika virus is Guillain bare syndrome. Again, only very few Medical Consultants in Nigeria will admit they have not seen one case of this condition, characterized by ascending and symmetrical muscle paralysis ,occurring suddenly and starting from both legs and thighs and rapidly spreading through the trunk to involve the arms, forearms and hands. In many  of the cases of  guillain-bare like Zika, there is fever, and damage to the nerves, just as there is involvement of the nerves responsible for vision, movement and hearing in children born with microcephaly . Paralysis  of  the trunk muscles responsible for breathing may have caused death from respiratory arrest. Also, there are many cases of fever that have now been arranged into a class; many patients presenting to hospitals with fever and in whom extensive laboratory tests including blood culture failed to demonstrate the presence of any causative agent  for whom the managing team has placed a diagnosis of fever of undetermined origin(PUO) may indeed be a case of Zika virus. Many cases of children dying from febrile convulsion, and in whom no pathogens could be isolated could also be victims of the Zika virus

    These relationships will be explained later, but it will be sufficient to point out that just like the other viruses , the Zika virus is not new. It was first identified in Uganda  69 years ago(1947) in the rhesus monkey but was isolated both in a Tanzanian and another Ugandan patient  in 1952 And so all the stuff about  some one born 50 years ago designing a virus does not make sense.

    The incubation period of Zika virus disease is not known for certain for  now, however, just as an individual carrying the human immune deficiency virus can go on for years without showing any of the characteristic symptoms, about 80% of patients carrying the zika virus may not show symptoms

    To be continued.

  • Sex and the family

    Sex and the family

    SEX AND THE FAMILY

    If you watch nature, or videos on nature you would see how important sex is to life.  In some respect, it is a central aspect of male-female relationship.  Second to water and food, all animals seek it, from tiny insects to huge elephants and they all have their ways when it comes to sexual behavior, be it inside water, on the ground, under the ground or in the air. If you send animals to outer space, be sure they would try it out their too.

    Humans too have characteristic human sexual behavior and a wide spectrum of tendencies and actualizations beyond the characteristics.

    Human households normally have more than one person residing and many households have more than one sexes residing.  How many sexes are there?  It is a twenty first century question.  Biblically, there are two sexes, male and female.  The Bible deals with norms.  With the advent of the Internet, the world observes extraordinary sexual characteristics amongst humans which in centuries past, were simply to be hidden and kept from public knowledge.  Be it blessing, be it curse, be it acceptable, be it abominable, there are notable deviations from characteristic human sexual presentations or behavior. Born that way, how does one live within a society that is comfortable with its norms.

    For example, “a hermaphrodite is a person or animal having both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics, either abnormally or (in the case of some organisms) as the natural condition.” (https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=&oq=rape&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4NDKB_enNG561NG563&q=rape+definition&gs_l=hp..1.0l5.0.0.0.189163………..0.RR7nYCH3t6I#q=hermaphrodite+definition).

    “The first hermaphrodite human pictures were created in 1860, when French photographer Gaspard-Felix Tournachon, otherwise known as Nadar, took nine photographs of a young person with a male build and stature, but who might have identified as female. These are considered the first hermaphrodite human pictures in the world, and were reserved only for medical uses. These photographs were never published in mainstream media.” (Http://www.newhealthadvisor.com/Hermaphrodite-Human-Pictures.html)

    “A person who is a hermaphrodite has both female and male genital characteristics and can also be called intersex people. This typically means that the organs on the inside are of one sex, while the organs on the outside are of another sex; for example, a hermaphrodite might have a penis and testicles, but inside, there are ovaries and possibly a uterus. In more rare cases, the chromosomes say a person is male or female, but the genitals say otherwise.It is currently estimated that about one in every 2,000 babies born have “confusing” or ambiguous genitalia. In cases like this, the parents might make the decision to put their child through surgery to determine a physical gender, or they might opt to wait until the child is older and can decide for themselves which gender is dominant in their body and mind.” (http://www.newhealthadvisor.com/Hermaphrodite-Human-Pictures.html)

    Against African culture, a child born with sexual abnormality might be described as a witch or something to disown.  These days, with the pictures on the Internet, we know there are many people in this world with strange sexual characteristics.

    Just as there are physical deviations from normal human characteristics, there are mental and spiritual deviations from characteristic humanity. From molestation and rape to sexual sadism, there is a lot that might be dwelling with today’s humanity and from family to family, what are our challenges and how do we cope?  To be continued.

     

    Dr. ‘Bola John is a biomedical scientist based in Nigeria and in the USA.   For any comments or questions on this column, please email bolajohnwritings@yahoo.com or call 08160944635

  • Midlife crisis or midlife transition

    Continued from last week

     

    There are underlying mechanisms of the midlife crisis: physical, mental, spiritual, environmental, and social mechanisms.  To know them helps the mid-lifer to undergo mid-life transition rather than midlife-crisis.

    Spiritual:   Spiritual matters contributing to midlife crises are typically individualistic and may be above intellectual scrutiny therefore we will not attempt to analyze them too much here. It is important to know that having a good soul mate in marriage and/or suitable life companions, living according to one’s predestination which is often inscribed in our genetic makeup and talents, and having a proper relationship to one’s origin and end (widely understood as God) are important contributors to life fulfilment and satisfaction which are partially attained by midlife. Uneven yokes are risky and may become counterproductive. At midlife one may become aware of what has become one’s predominant contribution (good or evil) to one’s family, society, or the world: progress or backwardness, love or hate, mediocrity or greatness, order or chaos, justice or strife -temporary or permanent.  Positive outcomes of awareness of one’s contributions may be satisfaction, contentment, joy, peace, freedom, optimism, drive, momentum, etc.  Negative outcomes may be dissatisfaction, rebellion, unhappiness, viciousness, paralysis, pessimism, discouragement, despondency, etc. Crises are playgrounds of evil.  Transition is to gain spiritual power to overcome various evils.

    Environmental: A midlife entrepreneur in Nigeria at this point in early 2016 that has no personal solutions to problems of electricity, petroleum, and forex shortages experienced in the country may be bound for crisis.  Many parts of the world are hit by overpowering wars, floods, catastrophes, accidents, epidemics, etc. that devastate people’s lives instantly. No matter how matured and successful the mid-lifer was before such happenings, crisis is generally inevitable.  To see the gains of ones efforts in life destroyed suddenly and possibly irrecoverably is bad for one’s ego and emotions.  There can be lasting wounds: physical, mental, spiritual. People of power, influence, and affluence should be quick is assisting victims who suffer such disasters.  The quicker and the better the aid, the better the transition the victims can make.

    Societal: Some people at midlife find themselves with the double responsibilities of taking care of their children, especially costs of education, and taking care of their parents, especially cost of health care. Both can be financially draining, time consuming, and can limit one’s other interests or capabilities.  This can become a source of crisis.  On the other hand, the Empty Nest may be a source of midlife crises. The children have gone to live their own lives and single parents or couples are left alone in their homes. The initial adjustments may be difficult.  Mid-lifers may also grow tired of or sever longtime associates possibly through such factors as: change of occupation, review of religious beliefs, change of political affiliations, awareness of cultural identities, emergence of differential social statuses between oneself and one’s associates, limitation by illnesses, and relocation.   Loss of friendships, acquaintances, and relationshipsare telling in lack of social support when needed.  The wisdom of Ecclesiastes 4: 10 (NAB) puts it: “Woe to the solitary man!  For if he should fall, he has no one to lift him up.” Transition is to reposition oneself correctly in society and this may be in different aspects for different persons.

    Factors That Can Lead To Male Midlife Crisis

    Popular gossip says “men have huge egos”.  Has anyone been able to disprove it?  A man needs to feel that he is a man and if he does not feel so, there may be crisis. A crisis is expressed in active or passive behavior.   Actively, a man in midlife crisis would most likely do anything to make him feel bigger or better such as: having a new girlfriend that is twenty years younger or far more good-looking than his wife, marrying more wives that he has no time or money for; buying a new posh car that only creates a fleet in his yard; scrambling to the top of the professional ladder recklessly; embezzling a huge some; breaking laws with audacity; oppressing someone; doing outrageous things, etc.  Passively, one may escape from reality through drink, drugs, sex, abandonment of job or family, etc.

    Factors That Can Lead To Female Midlife Crisis

    A woman’s emotions are a treasure for her children and husband and when emotions are empty there may be crisis.  Celibate women who have lost the fervor of their celibacy may experience crisis due to unfulfilled emotions.  Single women may also be strongly disposed towards midlife crisis for lack of a spouse or children.  Widows, divorced women, and single mothers may also be strongly disposed to midlife emptiness.  The premenopausal, menopausal, and postmenopausal stages that women pass through may vary individually and may turn to crisis depending on whether the woman is celibate, single, a widow, or divorced and depending on whether she is a mother or childless.  Talking is a good outlet of one’s feelings but it can also bond one with the listener which may be good or bad, depending on the listener.  Emotional substitutions may be by anything including adopting a child, keeping any company including bad or unfit dates, attachment to groups and teams including faith groups, and using sex toys.

    Even though men may have huge egos and women may have huge emotions, the role of the ego or emotions in a crisis is individualistic and midlife crisis may have emotional or egoistic preponderance in either males or females alike.

    Dr. ‘Bola John is a biomedical scientist based in Nigeria and in the USA.   For any comments or questions on this column, please email bolajohnwritings@yahoo.com or call 08160944635

  • HIV/AIDS

    The term AIDS is an acronym that stands for “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome”. It is acquired because the victims do not inherit the condition, but contract it. Immune deficiency means that the victim’s natural bodily defense mechanisms are unable to function properly, and “syndrome” refers to the combination of different abnormalities or diseases making up this condition.

    AIDS is a complex of diseases and symptoms resulting from unexplained immune deficiency; caused by a retrovirus, culminating in a “mixed-bag” of life-threatening opportunistic infections, which invariably results in death. The retrovirus that causes AIDS is known as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) with types I and II already isolated.

    Although there have been wide speculations and insinuations as to the origin of the virus (HIV), the fact still remains that the first cases of AIDS were diagnosed in North America, Europe and Central Africa about the same time in 1981. Since then, cases are being reported all over the world and most countries now have people with “full-blown” AIDS as well as carriers infected with the virus. It occurs in about 1 to 10% of the population and the incubation period is 4 to 10 years.

    The virus has been isolated mostly from semen, vaginal secretion and blood. It is generally believed to be contracted through sexual intercourse, transfusion of contaminated blood, use of un-sterile instruments such as needles, blades and catheters, trans-placental infection, organ transplant, tattooing and circumcision as well as breast-feeding.

    The major characteristic feature of AIDS is weight loss of about 10kg within 1 month without a known cause. Other symptoms include chronic diarrhoea, persistent cough, skin infections, oro-pharyngeal candidiasis, swollen lymph glands and night sweating.

    Prevention

    Prevention of AIDS is achieved through avoidance of casual sex, and other factors that may predispose to HIV infection; as well as sterile procedures in clinico-surgical practices.

    Treatment and Control

    Before recommending our treatment and control packages for HIV/ AIDS, it is pertinent to ask the following questions:

    1. Why do outbreaks of serious infectious diseases leave some people devastated and others free?
    2. If some people are known to be carriers and could go around with the virus for up to 15 years before they physically breakdown, couldn’t there be ways of helping to cleanse the virus from the system before it manifests?
    3. Are the sufferer’s thoughts, aspirations and living habits not affecting the disease cycle as well as response to treatment?

    If yes, then in Holistic Lifecare, we are committed to total care of HIV/AIDS sufferers when they have just been tested and diagnosed positive, when they are still able to eat, drink and move around on their own, but not when they are expecting their funeral the next day!

    The Holistic Natural Remedy being suggested for restoring good health, vitality, and longevity in HIV/AIDS sufferers; is a combination of herbal, nutritional and psycho-social therapies at the appropriate time and in the right proportion. Notable among the useful herbs for HIV/AIDS are Aloe vera, Allium sativum, Harpagophytum zeyheri, Echinacea augustifolia and Zingiber officinale.

     

    For further information and consultation on Holistic Lifecare research and services, especially on Blood Infections, Infertility, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Chronic Debilitating Conditions as well as mental and social problems, please call  on: 0803-330-3897 or visit: Mosebolatan Holistic Lifecare Centre, Adeyalo Layout, Ogbere-Tioya, Off Olorunsogo Express Bridge, Ibadan. Website: www.holisticlifecare.com. Distance is no barrier, we can send remedies by courier if need be.

  • Social Medicine

    Sex and the risks

    There was a mix up  in the introductory portion of the first part of this article; the correct  sentence is“superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency(sufficiency),lives longer”. The error is regretted. The take away message from that quotation taken from William Shakes speare’s comedy book ; Merchant of Venice as applied to sex,is that it can in deed be excessive and too much sex has its consequences. Added to that is the fact that though, young boys and men may not know it, too much sex by way of frequency, associated with ejaculationor not, can be harmful to human health.

    Complete  copulatory sex occurs through a cycle and several stages of the cycle have been studied to make the work of sex therapist much more scientific and less subjective . It is essentially a matter , of ask-give receive, or give-receive ask give , depending on how it started. Though it will not be very appropriate to discuss them  in any details here,it will be sufficient to say that at one time or the other during the sex cycle, nearly every major organ in the body is involved. Of particular importance are the heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, the penis, clitoris, vagina, the spine which contains the spinal cord . These structures and their repertoire of blood vessels and nerves are recruited into action during sex, Little wonder then that a young man who has diabetes mellitus and allows himself to take a few bottles of beer while partying with friends may be courting  very serious danger if  under the influence of Alcohol he goes further to engage in passionate physically demanding sex. He may go into coma from which there may be no recovery.

    The risk of dying while having sex, copulatory or non copulatory is increased for certain individuals and conditions  as hereunder:

    Age

    Erectile dysfunction or persistent inability to achieve and maintain penile  erection is a major problem now tormenting men ,the world over. More common after the age of 40, it is one reason many men are killing themselves with sex stimulants . Women are partly to blame for the amount of indecent exposure available for people of all ages to see. However, they (women ) argue that it is the ultimate responsibility of every man to know himself. Arguably,It is unreasonable for a man older than 50 to expect that his sex drive and performance will be the same as it was when he was 20 years old; libido and performance will wane with age, and while a wife of similar age may understand and wait patiently, a young lady with mountains of energy and sex drive will not . A  man will  resort to all sorts of ways and means to match a young and energetic wife . Many of these ways  are capable of leading  to untimely death

    Genetics

    As stated earlier, being a male of African descent is on it’sown  a risk factor for many diseases of the heart and it’s blood vessels. The black male is naturally endowed with sex organs which  on the average  are remarkably sizeable and efficient . Perhaps it is wise to remember that the maker designed the African males so no one has it all. And so from all over the world, there are more males of African descent dying from complications associated with sex performance enhancing drugs

    Alcoholics

    For the African male, the geometry or Anatomy of the heart is not exactly the same as what you find in  a White  man of the same age. The pace maker in the heart(SAN) is set to kick start the heart earlier and to make the heart beat faster, Beyond that, the male African is more predisposed to have abnormal pacemakers, or double conduction pathways (wolf Parkinson white syndrome), etc. Because  it requires expensive equipment to diagnose many conditions of the heart , many patients are not aware they are not as strong as they think. Alcohol increases heart rate , causes it’s blood vessels to relax and widen. It  stimulates the brain and then later depresses it. It maytherefore stimulate the man, and then while the spirit is willing, the flesh is too weak to respond . The man goes for more alcohol until he goes into coma, or the heart beats faster and faster, until it stops(from excessive stimulation)

    Men In Primary Seated  And Standing Occupations

    Men whose jobs require sitting down  orstanding for long periods of time as required by occupation, are liable to problems of the lower part of the spine. A common symptom being low back pain. As they grow older, the problems are likely to get worse even to the extent that the bones may shift from normal positions. Because the spine is like a beam, it requires one little snap as may occur during one memorable time of wonderful sex and death may occur or paralysis from waist down may pacify the man.

    Underlying Medical Conditions

    Diabetes Mellitus  and Hypertension

    Diabetes and hypertension occur frequently in the Nigerian African, mostly separately but sometimes together. Scientists and physicians think that the connection may lie somewhere between the small  blood vessels and the equally tiny nerves that keep them alive. What ever the case, it is safer for couples  to go slow and easy on sex if the man is obese, has diabetes, mellitus, hypertension, or both. Inability to achieve and maintain erection is very common among patients undergoing treatment for these conditions, including obesity. It is important to note that many  of the drugs used in the treatment of many conditions such as hypertension, and others like peptic ulcer which incidentally is most likely to  afflict  the man whose blood pressure is chronically high have a major side effect; they cause impotence, the man has difficulties getting an erection, or if he manages to have one ,it is not strong enough for him to achieve penetration or maintain it. Again, he needs an understanding wife to keep his marriage. If she complaints, it gets worse. He is forced to resort to drugs, that  willfurther give him stress and the  effect is to increase his blood sugar ,  increase his blood pressure ,death

    Obesity

    Whether it is Gyenoid or Truncal obesity, it is bound to affect the heart and the blood vessels, truncal obesity being much more dangerous. Sex on it’s own is a form of  exercise . Tolerance and exhaustion  after any exercise characterize obesity, particularly when BMI is above 35. Death during sex, worse after a meal and wine is not uncommon in obese men.

    Adult  onset Asthmatics

    Asthma,characterized by difficult,noisy and wheezy breathing is  a medical condition that is generally understood to be inherited. It is now believed that it could be acquired as a result of persistent exposure to various  allergens . Even early exposure to broad spectrum antibiotics is being increasingly recognized as a risk factor for developing asthma. Because of the similarities in morphology between muscles of the heart and the respiratory tree, adult onset asthma is particularly dangerous as it may actually be coming from a poorly treated or undiagnosed heart condition. An attack can occur any time, but not frequently during sex because the stress response to sex, has a protective effect, but not when the system is over stretched . It will not be out of place to suggest that affected individuals  should be smart enough to ensure they have a cup of inhaler or  nebulizer close by when necessary

    Sickle cell disease . Patients with sickle cell disease; the heterozygous AS or homozygous SS have issues with flow properties of blood(haemorheology). Particularly for those with SS, there is a possibility of throwing emboli, and developing stroke. This is not to say that they should avoid sex. There are many AS African males who have four to seven children or more and never suffered any  of the crises that take sickle cell patients to Hospital . Moderation is  simplythe watch ward.

    Drugs

    Sex steroids, morphine, and other pain killers have body building as well as performance enhancing properties, and hence, users are mainly athletes and footballers. What these drugs or preparations  also do and which unfortunately is usually untold is that they can kill at any time, mostly while the user is actively performing. Staying away from them is the best decision any young person can make

    Sex Toys/sex Games/experiments

    All you need to do is watch the DSTV cable program; “1000 ways to die” and the import of the message will hit you without pain. Sex toys ,games and experiments are designed to make men ,but particularly women express extremes of pleasure. The risk of dying from multiple organ failure as the body is pleasured  may be rare but very real.

    Multiple Partnerscommercial Sex Workers

    Commercial sex workers can be brothel based, where they do their business out in the open and  in certain locations, or non brothel based, where you have to be an ‘area piper’ or belong to know them from other women. What is common to them however is that, they are willing to do any thing anytime, any where and at whatever price. That price may be the death of the young man who wants something new ,strange or different from sex. Those who patronize commercial sex workers often complain that they no longer find  their wives  or partners of many years sexually appealing. Unfortunately the excitement and peaks of pleasure derivable from the uninhibited sex available from these people come with no emotion whatsoever . They take control of every thing including the  capacity of a client to negotiate himself out of danger. Sex in such circumstances clouds judgment and even the strongest of men may become willing to pay more to have extraordinary sex ,even when he knows he might die in the course of it.

    Same Sex  Partners

    For reasons not yet fully understood , individuals in same sex relationships have many issues to contend with . Partner fidelity, disclosure status and peculiar ideations feature prominently in the intuitive perceptions capable of flaring when such individuals are behind closed doors.

    Sex Fights

    Strangely, some individuals grow up with certain patterns of behavior considered  deviant or abnormal depending on the society. Some women become interested in sex or get  turned on only after a quarrel or a fight, with a partner, husband or wife. It might be alright  for young couples, but for older men, a sudden rise in blood pressure occasioned by a strong argument may  rupturethe blood vessels of the brain. Bleeding into the brain may go on silently for some time and then progress to a major blow out like a burst pipe later during sex, and commonly at some time in the night when help is difficult to find.

  • Sex and the risks

    A wise man in one of his books writes; “superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but sufficiency leaves longer”; and a  preacher in one of his prescriptions  for practical Christianity says, “sufficient unto the day is of the evil one”.

    Current situation as concerns the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is that adolescent males now drive the pandemic. Strained and in distress from prevention fatigue, many more young male Nigerians are having unprotected sex, contracting  the virus and increasing the illness and death statistics.  There are  nownew problems , calling for new approaches and review of current strategies. Emphasis has been on creating awareness in order to bring about relevant changes in patterns of behavior, but because awareness does not necessarily translate to knowledge, many of these young Nigerians now have their own interpretation of safe and safer sex . They have resorted to taking a few antiretroviral drugs, before, during and after sex as a way of  avoiding contracting the virus. The many poorly understood mechanisms of action of these drugs and the very high failure rate when used  without supervision  will not deter them.  They would be disappointed if they were informed that even if a Surgeon  operating on a patient that has HIV mistakenly cuts himself  and takes  these drugs almost immediately, there is still  a 75% chance that he will develop HIV/AIDS.The waning efforts of relevant agencies to sustain the HIV/AIDS awareness tempo may be making matters worse. And so unfortunately, people have come to think of HIV/AIDS now as just another form of TYPHOMALARIA .

    Other issues  have  emerged ,and many sexually active men are  dying atop or underneath women while having sex. As is usually the case with underdeveloped countries, many  of these deaths are not being reported. A number of  factors may orchestrate to increase the risks of dying from sex, and these ones have little to do with whether or not people are having sex without protection. Questions are being asked as to what category of people are dying from sex, what is killing them and what can be done to stop or reduce these deaths . Finding answers to these questions may appear simple , but on deeper considerations, not so easy. In any case, the issues are worth considering.

    Legitimate  spousal sex, between consenting partners , and from appropriate relationships is good for  the body and nourishes the human brain. In fact, research has affirmed that   a happily married  man or woman who has sex regularly with her husband or wife and actively participates  in it,is more likely to live longer compared with others. However, apart from the risks of contracting deadly sexually transmitted infectious agents, sex in whatever form as long as it involves two or more individuals can be  as dangerous as it is pleasant, and how much is too much determines whether or not a man or woman  dies or lives while having sex. In some  livingorganisms, nature  makes provision for male and female members of the specie to mate only once and after that  one or both dies. Studies  in rats  have demonstrated that excessive indulgence in sex by way of frequency could be harmful to health .  Male Rats  induced to engage in frequent  ejaculatory sex with female rats tend to die young, compared with others of same age not so treated. Though these reports have not been adequately investigated in humans because of the difficulties  involved in controlling  for many confounding variables in experiments involving humans, they are interesting enough to provoke common sense and stimulate thinking. This has become relevant, as  it is becoming increasingly realized that sex is sending young and middle aged boys and men to the emergency(casualty) rooms of Hospitals and Clinics all over the world.  For many of the cases that have been seen, death and disabilities have been observed  during sex or a few minutes after climax. Victims have also been observed to have used Alcohol, aphrodisiac supplements and other performance enhancing drugs of different dosage  formulations . When men die while doing it , not much is  talked about or disclosed about  the women involved.People  have begun to wonder if  men are  simply being driven crazy and into early graves  because women are becoming more beautiful, but less chaste and inclined to value systems ,or  men have become dangerously addicted to sex, because something  yet to be discovered has emerged to distort the normal regulatory control of testosterone along the HypoThalamoHypophysealGonadadal axis.

    A woman’s appetite  for and demand for sex depends on many factors, including  among others, age, sex,  genetics, gender, religion, culture, occupation, environment, peer influence, life style and education. Ageand  genetics require further details.  Some women are naturally more sexually active compared with others of the same age. Something in the genes of a particular person  may have been programmed by the maker, to function at a level and with frequencies remarkably different  from others, and yet  considered normal . This explains why you have the Nuns of the Catholic faith, and why for some women, one orgasmic coitus  a week is enough where as, for others, every intimate contact must result in orgasmic sexual intercourse. Beyond that, ayoung woman that is beyond the age of puberty ,but not any where close to menopause is more likely to be sexually active with a strong appetite for sex compared with the one in the transitional menopausal period , whose hormone levels, in particular, estrogen will have begun to decline substantially.

    Every normal  youngfemale within the reproductive age  bracket(15-45years) ovulates  about the middle of her menstrual cycle(usually 14 days before the next menstrual bleeding). For ovulation to occur, there has to be a surge in one {leutenizinghormone(LH)}of the  two hormones involved in menstrual cycle regulation. This hormone first acts on certain specialized cells of the ovary to produce male hormones(androgens), from which the hormone estrogen is released into the blood. At the level of the brain, this body chemical though predominantly a male  hormone, the much  that is left in the brain of a woman  during this period , serves to increase her appetite  for sex. From this brief explanation , it can be seen  and  understood  why at certain periods in every month, some  women may find themselves overwhelmed by the urge to have sex , and why some may  need to struggle  harder than others  to bring themselves under control so as not to do unthinkable things. As long as  exposure to Alcohol, drugs and other  sex stimulants is avoided as much as possible, self control is achievable in all circumstances . Problems arise when in unguarded moments  a young lady gets introduced to strange patterns of behavior and the individual gets into  unending and uncontrollable desire for sex, from one cycle to another, bulldozing men, old and young as she hops from one bed to another

    For  the Nigerian African  male individual who is young and  biologically  functional , sex is something to be enjoyed ad infinitum even unto death. The African woman equally believes rightly or wrongly that under any circumstance, the black man is as strong as igneous rock when it comes to sex, and should be able to perform even when he is apparently too ill to do so. Under the unrelenting push of testosterone; the predominant male hormone, there is that feeling of immortality  and competitiveness among men that when  a  man irrespective of age  finds himself in a situation that is sexually suggestive, all fear is gone and caution takes back seat.  The positive effect of testosterone on male libido begins to fall by about age 25 years, but many individuals only begin to experience symptoms by the time they are concluding their 30th birthday celebrations;the problems declaring themselves by way of  problems getting and maintaining erections, first occasionally and then with increasing frequency. It is at this point that death comes knocking at the door, depending on the marital status of the man , type of marriage and most importantly the character and age of his partner.

    As will be explained later, men ,and in particular those coming from the African continent(Blacks) are more likely to die while having sex, compared with men of similar age from the White race. One reason for this is that the black man is  genetically designed to die from problems associated with blood pressure, blood sugar, weight and the heart. The probability istherefore high that at the time of the sexual encounter, the black maleindividual compared to a white man of the same age and body size,  is more likely to have an undiagnosed metabolic disease such as Hypertension or Diabetes . He is more likely to be sexually aggressive and adventurous in bed as he tries to prove one thing or another before his partner. Though not invariable, the black male is also more likely to have multiple sex partners and be  using  fake or expired  performance enhancing drugs about which little information is available to him.

    There are certain individuals who believe that women; young ,and middle aged  are killing men with sex ; they argue that improved awareness of the modern woman  about sex has made it difficult to  control her appetite for sex ,even legitimate sex. Some have argued that compared with the past, women of the present time have become difficult to satisfy in bed. Asked why she had lost interest in sex, a young woman once told a  court judge  that she had become sick of the monotony of same pattern, same place, same night, same style, nothing new. Rather than change, husband asked for marriage dissolution, because, wife had unknowingly given herself away as a cheating housewife; probably having been taken to hotels by men in her place of work

    Others believe that men have become so addicted to sex that, even when during a particularly intense sexual encounter they see death coming , they are unable to help themselves .

     

    To be continued

  • Midlife peace or midlife crisis

    Everyone who is not yet 40 should pray that they spend their midlife (above forty till early sixties) as healthy and contributing members of society.  In any society, the young (below forty years of age) are typically takers.  They need to be provided for, fed, accommodated, taught, trained, supported, inspired, motivated, directed, sponsored, etc.  On the contrary, mid-lifers are expected to be givers.  They have already got.  They are supposedly settled.  They have landed somewhere good for them and they are poised to be their best and give their best, or so society expects.  The elders are the people who spend more time relaxing and the rest of us pet them.  Thus one expects the good life to progress as: you take, you give, you relax.  Unfortunately, this kind of peace evades many individuals and many societies and mid-lifers too commonly pass through the well talked about mid-life crisis.

    A husband comes home one evening and says he is not returning to that job even if they quadruple his income;Mummy abandons the kids at home and disappears for days or forever;  a  guy buys a posh car with all the money he had been saving for the kids’ education;Daddy decides to sleep with his teenage daughter; a wife turns the family’s sitting room into a chapel;  a woman collects numerous phone numbers of doctors and lawyers; a couple has regular physical fights; an administrator embezzles an outrageous amount of money; a boss fires somebody over trifles; a careerist kills a rival – these are common examples indicating midlife mishaps within human beings.   The midlife crisis is a syndrome of physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual personal experiences.  There are underlying mechanisms of the midlife crisis: physical, mental, spiritual, environmental, and social mechanisms.  To know them helps the mid-lifer to undergo mid-life transition rather than midlife-crisis.

    Generally for both men and women, a crisis may center within one or more groups of life issues:

    • Looks, appearance, image, status, possessions…..
    • Job, livelihood, career, achievements, contributions…..
    • Health, capabilities, freedoms, powers……
    • Marriage, relationships, friendships, culture….
    • Beliefs, religion, hopes, fears, experiences…….

    The major driving force of a crisis may come from the ego or the emotions, and men may be more prone to forces of ego and women more prone to forces of emotions but none is immune to either.  The major remedy for any crisis may similarly be guided by the ego or the emotions.  A new and better life emerges when the head and the heart become the two polished sides of the precious coin of life.  Then there is a peaceful balance.

    A midlife crisis may be an individual experience or it may be a social experience.  A couple, a marriage, or an entire family including a mid-lifer may enter into a crisis.  If a mother walks away from her marriage or a father walks away from his job, a resultant crisis evolved in their children may become worse than their own personal crises.

    In order to arrive at a balance and peace, one has to deal with or peel off certain layers of a midlife crisis (peel off the P’s).  Chief of them are:

    • Perceptions: shock, confusion, doubt, anger, denial, remorse……obsessions, compulsions, risky behavior, rebellion……
      • Paralysis: boredom, indecision, unhappiness, cynicism, hopelessness, depression…..

      Change towards improvement is not always easy, quick, or strait forward.  Generally, people go through periods of ups and downs before arriving at a balance.

      Always, from a midlife crisis, a better or a worse person emerges, a richer or a poorer person emerges, a healthier or a sicker person emerges, a weaker or a stronger person emerges, a sane or a manic person emerges, a normal citizen or a criminal emerges, and a sinner or a saint emerges.

      Midlife is a necessary and normal stage in life.  Crisis is not necessary but it may be normal in today’s world and, if it comes, we can choose to aim for victory rather than succumb to defeat.

  • Diabetes

    The term diabetes, when not specified, refers to Diabetes mellitus, a serious metabolic disorder characterized by defects in the body’s use of carbohydrates. The other kind of diabetes is Diabetes insipidus, which is quite a different and relatively rare condition, in which an individual passes large quantities of pale, dilute urine, with consequent dehydration and excessive thirst.

    Diabetes mellitus is a syndrome in which the basic defect is the absence or shortage of the hormone called insulin. This hormone is carried by the blood to the kidneys, where it limits the outflow of water in the urine.

    The great majority cases of Diabetes insipidus are due to a tumour or inflammation in the region of the pituitary gland, thereby suppressing ADH production. Physical damage in form of fracture of the base of the skull or surgery in the pituitary area can also cause Diabetes insipidus. In addition, there is a rare inherited form of Diabetes insipidus where the production of Anti-Diuretic Hormone is normal, but the kidneys do not respond to the circulating hormone.

    As earlier stated, in Diabetes mellitus, an organ in the body (called the pancreas) is found not to be functioning properly. Insulin is a hormone produced by the Beta cells in the Islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. Insulin is carried by the blood to all parts of the body. The body’s cells use glucose (blood sugar) as their fuel. They have receptors to which insulin becomes attached. This binding of insulin enables the cells to use glucose by converting it into energy or storing it as fat. Any defect in this process, either in the pancreas, where insulin is being produced, or at the sites of attachment of insulin to the cells, would interfere with the body’s use of fuel to produce energy.

    Apart from the malfunctioning of the Pancreas, one other cause of this disorder is unbalanced diet. Most of us consume denatured food in one way or the other. Also, food additives and unhealthy drinks, whether soft drinks, teas, coffee or liquor may predispose one to metabolic imbalance.

    The symptoms of diabetes include: frequent urination, loss of flesh, inordinate appetite, constant hunger, mental depression, progressive weakness, great thirst, dry tongue and impaired vision. The person could be irritable, restless and morose. The loss of energy is due to the loss of sugar, which is needed to generate the energy for daily activities.

    In Holistic Lifecare, it is strongly advised that imported styles of living (i.e. cooking, eating & drinking) must be looked into especially on the use of food additives and colourants in fast foods and so-called take-away. Heavy starchy foods should be cut down drastically, if they cannot be avoided, pending total recovery from the ailment.

    As we make efforts to repair a malfunctioning pancreas, there are some fruits and vegetables known to be helpful. These include carrots, paw-paw, cucumber, onions, garlic and lettuce, combined with soya-milk mixed with guinea-corn pap or porridge.

     

    Control: The Holistic remedy that has been popularly suggested for the control of Diabetes is a combination of the natural extracts of some herbs scientifically called Anchomanes difformis, Pergularia daemia, Vinca rosea and Viscum album.

  • What vitamins do for the brain

    On asking an accomplished entrepreneur what were his main challenges, he mentioned money, a few bad people, and people who did not believe in what he was doing.  We can each expect challenges, even on a daily basis sometimes, and therefore mental fitness is very important for us to live our best lives, to accomplish good things, and to reach fulfilment.  Brain well-being can be seen in such functions as the ability to solve problems and the ability to control emotions and direct passions well.

    Vitamins that we obtain from our nutrition or from our nutritional supplements are important for the well-being of the brain. When the brain is not functioning well, one’s personality may falter, emotions may become odd, and passions may be displaced or misplaced.

    If you sometimes feel your memory is failing, you might be suffering from lack of nutrition or lack of sleep.  Deficiencies in many nutrients – especially essential vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids – have been linked to brain problems.  A degeneration of the brain structure, its functioning, and its defenses may progress into diseases such as depression, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

    Depression is a disorder associated with major symptoms such as increased sadness and anxiety, loss of appetite, low mood, and a loss of interest in pleasures.  Brain malfunction predisposes a person to difficultyin making decisions or difficulty in concentrating.

    There are certain vitamins that help us in thinking, focusing, remembering, learning, or in general mental functioning.The B vitamins are good for mental and emotional well-being, preserving the memory, counteracting depression, alleviating stress, and they are thought to promote long life.  Why are they so helpful?  One reason is that vitamin B6, vitamin B12, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and folate are involved in the production of neurotransmitters.  Vitamin B-12 is also involved in maintaining the myelin or fatty covering of the nerve cells (neurons).

    Some of the neurotransmitters are serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline, and gamma-aminobutyric acid and deficiency in them is often associated with depression.  Serotonin (also called 5-hydroxy tryptamine (5HT)) deficiency is associated with anxiety, insomnia, low self-esteem, negative thoughts, obsessive-compulsive disorder, seasonal affective disorder, etc.

    Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is involved in the formation of neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin and the hormone melatonin which is involved in the sleep-wake cycle. Vitamin B6 deficiency may occur in alcoholics, people with kidney failure, or in women taking oral contraceptives.

    Vitamin B12 (cynocobalamin)is important for red blood cell formation. It is stored in the liver and its deficiency is rare. Deficiency is usually due to lack of an enzyme called intrinsic factor which is needed for vitamin B12 absorption from digested food.  Intrinsic factor decreases with age.  Dementia can be caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. Supplementation with this vitamin enhances cerebral and cognitive functions in the elderly.

    Vitamin B9 (folate) found in foods is synthesized as folic acid in supplements.

    Depression is common in people with low blood folate levels and with folate deficiency. On the contrary, depressed people who fail to eat well can end up with folate deficiency.Folic acidis needed for DNA synthesis and is important for rapidly growing tissues, especially during pregnancy, in infancy, and at adolescence. It is involved in the production of red blood cells. Vitamin B9 is crucial for proper brain function and plays an important role in mental and emotional health. Deficiency in folate leads to irritability, forgetfulness, and mental sluggishness. Of all vitamin deficiencies, insufficient vitamin B9 tends to be the most frequently seen. Folate deficiency lowers brain neurotransmitter serotonin).

    Vitamin B1 (thiamine)is needed by the brain in conversion of glucose into energy. Alcoholism can lead to thiamine deficiencies and brain dysfunction.Vitamin B3 (niacin) if deficient(though this is rare) produces agitation and anxiety and retards mental activity.Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) deficiency, though rare, may be associated with fatigue and depression.B complex supplements are therefor useful when we pass through periods of intense or prolonged mental exercises.  They are sometimes called the “happy vitamins” or ‘anti-stress vitamins”.

    Vitamin Cdeficiencies can produce depression symptoms.  Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps to remove free radicals and toxins including heavy metal radicals. Vitamin C is required for the production of neurotransmitters and it is involved in the formation of the elastic tissue collagen that gives the arteries flexibility for improved blood flow.Some drugs that we take, such as aspirin, tetracycline, and birth control pills, can deplete the body’s supply of vitamin C.Vitamin D deficiency causes depression and vitamin D supplements can help some patients with depression.Vitamin E is an antioxidant that helps remove toxic radicals and protect brain tissues from damage. It is important for brain development in children.  Vitamin E supplementation may slow the progress of Alzheimer’s disease.

    Apart from the mentioned vitamins the human body needs all the vitamins to function well therefore a balanced diet and vitamin supplements as needed are very important for our general well-being.

     

    Dr. ‘Bola John is a biomedical scientist based in Nigeria and in the USA.   For any comments or questions on this column, please email bolajohnwritings@yahoo.com or call 08160944635