The Director-General, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Moji Adeyeye, has warned that the future of Nigeria depends largely on the nature and quality of youths that the country produces.

She warned further that a child that grew up under frustrating conditions would develop psychological problems with time and possibly become dangerous as an adult.

Speaking at the maiden Annual National Security Summit in Abuja with the theme “COVID-19, Drug abuse, mental health: Implications to national security,” she noted with dismay that conditions related to the pandemic are known to have increased economic deprivation and feelings of social isolation which are factors that can contribute to increased drug use.

Adeyeye, who was represented by NAFDAC’s Director of Narcotics and Controlled Substances, Dr Musa Umar, said the topic was apt and in line with national and international realities.

According to her, drug abuse is a health and a social problem, stressing that tackling the menace required a balanced approach touching on aspects related to the complex relationship between lack of opportunities, drug abuse, mental health, and national security.

“Security has gone beyond the notion of the physical safety and survival of a state from internal or external threats to include all the interlocking realms of economic self-reliance, social cohesion, and political stability. It borders on how people would live a long and healthy life.

Read Also: Drug abuse: Advocate urges parents to monitor children

 

“Human development is about enlarging people’s choices to live a long and healthy life, to acquire knowledge and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living (UNDP, 1990:10). In the absence of these essential choices many other opportunities remain inaccessible on a sustainable basis,” she said.

The NAFDAC boss pointed out that human development has always followed security of lives and property, which was the reason why those who drafted our constitution made security the number one responsibility the state must discharge towards its citizens.

She added that lack of opportunities, inequality, poverty, and mental health conditions are known factors that push people into drug use, stressing that the Illicit drug economies in poor and marginalised urban neighbourhoods is often driven by poverty.

The NAFDAC DG explained that the non-medical use of prescription drugs (e.g., opioids and benzodiazepines) and the use of amphetamines or new psychoactive substances in lieu of or in combination with drugs such as cocaine or heroin blurs the distinction between users of a particular substance and presents a picture of interlinked epidemics of drug use and related health consequences.

To deepen access to health insurance, the Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA) has launched the Ilera Eko divisional office, at the Ikorodu General Hospital, Ikorodu, Lagos. Efforts are afoot to open more offices in other divisions of Lagos, LASHMA said.

This, according to the agency, is to expand access to health insurance services for the people at the grassroots, since it is not possible for every Lagosian to reach the LASHMA headquarters in Ikeja. The Ilera Eko divisional office was launched with fanfare, with traditional rulers, market women and political office holders from Ikorodu division in attendance.

During the launch, the LASHMA  Chairman, Dr. Adetokunbo Alakija, represented by Dr. Tunde Akintade, listed the benefits of the scheme to include outpatient care for common ailments and conditions such as malaria, management of uncomplicated chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and asthma.

Other benefits, the chairman said, include treatment of HIV and tuberculosis, minor surgeries such as incision drainage, herniorrhaphy, appendectomy, pharmaceutical care, health promotion and diseases prevention.

He added that enrollees on the scheme are able to receive treatment at a registered hospital without payment as long as it covers the scope of the scheme subscribed to.

Read Also: NHIS: universal health coverage going well

Alakija further stressed that enrollees also enjoy free consultation with the doctor as well as free drug prescription and dosage, saying there are different packages, which include family and individual plans. He, however, noted that children that are 18 years and above would have to register under the individual plan. “The annual payment of N40,000 covers a family of six – father, mother and four children below 18 years, which automatically grants them access to a full year of uninterrupted access to hospitals registered to the family. An individual can also enjoy the same benefits with N8,500 annually, at any hospital of their choice under the State Health Scheme.”

In her remarks, the General Manager, LASHMA, Dr. Emmanuella Zamba, urged residents of Ikorodu to support the programme and take full advantage of the scheme that is open to all. She said that a resident can register through any of the LASHMA designated enrolment points spread across the state or via LASHMA website –lashma.com or www.lashma.lagosstate.gov.ng, having paid the premium in any of the designated banks.

 

“Our amiable Governor has shown true commitment to the well-being of the citizenry.  Therefore, I urge residents of Ikorodu to make good use of the opportunity to embrace the scheme and enjoy quality healthcare treatments in their vicinity,” she noted.

Sometimes, death has a way of swirling around like a whirlwind, maybe just to let us remember it is still alive…and around. Such was my experience about two weeks ago when I wrote in Facebook that my stomach was getting wormy or filled with butterflies. No fewer than six persons I have been acquainted with for about 30 years passed in a row, so suddenly that I had to gird my loins. Some were going about their daily hustles when, suddenly, they collapsed and departed. One was bouncing up and down everywhere only two days before he passed on in hospital. One went to bed at night and was gone before dawn. The body of another is yet to be flown home from New York. She rose from sleep that last morning, futuristic. She hoped to be in Nigeria by December for the wedding of one of her nieces. She and one of her younger sisters went out to shop for relations and friends in Nigeria and to rekit their New York home with foodstuffs. The COVID-19 pandemic had taken the jobs of her two sisters, so she had to pay the rent of $1,400 every month for their three-bedroom apartment and to place food on the dining table. They were lucky winter had not come and they did not have to spend extra money on heating. That done that morning, and all the Nigeria-bound packages boxed up and sent to the post office, she retired to her own room…to pray. About one hour later, one of her dependant sisters found her body fallen from a chair on which she sat praying, her nostrils and mouth still oozing fresh blood! They called an ambulance immediately. When it came, it was not kitted well enough for her condition, so the second ambulance had to come. It was the personnel of this other ambulance which confirmed her dead.

Hypertension and, perhaps, enlarged heart as well, are foundational causes in these deaths. The Guardian newspaper of  May 17, 2021 says 72.2 million of Nigeria’s 220 million population, or about a third of the country, is hypertensive and only about 23 million are treating this dangerous disease. Many hypertensive people do not know they are. Some of those who know treat hypertension with kid-gloves. The figures come from the Nigerian Medical Association (MNA) and the Nigerian Hypertension Society (NHS) and Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF), according to The Guardian report titled How hypertension, heart  diseases FUEL COVID19 DEATHS.

It may not be altogether correct to say that about two-thirds of Nigerian hypertension and heart disease cases are outside the treatment net. For there are all sorts of treatment nets outside allopathic or hospital care. More than 70% of the population rely on herbal medicines for their health care, with some proportions cross linking with allopathy. In this market, confusion in choices is sometimes evident, with surging hither and thither. Many people cannot stand the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs and, so, seek rescue lifelines in Alternative Medicine. For example anti-hypertensive drugs diminish male libido by slowing down the heart and, thereby, reducing blood flow to the penal shaft. This causes erectile dysfunction and embarrassment in the bedroom. Such affected patients are ever in search of rescue line. Aspirin and other drugs prescribed for thining the blood may cause ulcerations in the stomach and intestine. The injuries may get worse if they are infected with bacteria or fungi, especially candida. The STATIN drugs for lowering total blood cholesterol level interfere with the production of Coenzyme Q10(CoQ10) in the liver. This may create a shortage of CoQ10 in the heart. As CoQ10 provides energy for the pumping action of the heart, dimished supply means a weakening of heart function and undersupply of blood, nutrients and oxygen to all the cells as well as delayed removal of their waste products for elimination from the body. An accumulation of such wastes implies poisoning. Some diuretics prescribed for stimulating the kidneys to reduce water content of the blood volume, to reduce work load on the heart, actually send more Potassium out of the body than the kidneys ought to allow. Potassium is an important factor in the stability of muscle function. The heart, being a muscular organ, suffers from such Potassium loss. To prevent this suffering, doctors add a slow-releasing Potassium drug called SLOW K to the protocol. But this is an unnatural form of Potassium which does not properly synergize with natural elements in the body. Some doctors do not prescribe SLOW K. Some patients do not know they must take SLOW K with some types of diuretics. It is against this background that compliance with hospital therapies may be poor. The storyline in Alternative Medicine is not also always saintly. Among some practitioners, clinically proven plant medicines are not used because of the cost, particularly now that the Nigerian currency is very weak against other currencies. Happily we still find cases of orthodox doctors combining clinically proven natural medical products with pharmaceutical drugs, a medical model now called COMPLIMENTARY OR INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE. As this column is all about herbs and diet or nutrition, and not about pharmaceutical drugs in which it is incompetent, for about four decades, it has been suggesting the use of diet and food supplements as well as clinically proven herbal medicines for elevated blood pressure(hypertension) and some heart related health challenges.

In the series beginning today, I intends to recall some of those lifelines available for such conditions as rising blood pressure, hardening of the arteries(ARTEROSCLEROSIS), blockage of arteries(ATHEROSCLEROSIS), mitral heart prolapse, palpitation of the heart, arrhythmias or murmuring of the heart, congestive heart failure, low blood pressure, poor blood circulation, angina pectoris(pain in the heart weak heart due to insufficient blood supply to it) and heart attack, among many of the cardiovascular(heart and blood vessel) challenges of not only our time but of all generations as well.

Three leading authorities and authors in these fields will be our tour guides. Readers of this column are familiar with Dr. Robert Atkins, an American cardiologist and author of several books who was a pioneer of complimentary medicine in the United States from the 1980s. According to his introduction in one of his books, DR ATKINS VITA NUTRIENT SOLUTION, which has been a companion to me since 1998: Robert C. Atkins, M.D, is the founder and medical director of the Atkins center, world renowned integrative medicine practice located in Manhattan. A graduate of the University of Michigan and Cornell University Medical school, Dr. Atkins has been a practicing physician, specialising in cardiology and internal medicine, for over thirty years. During his career, he has built an international reputation as a leader in the field of integrative medicine. He was the National Health Federation’s “Man of the year” and the recipient of the World Organization of Alternative Medicine’s Recognition of Achievement Award. He was also co-founder and last president of the Foundation for the Advancement of Innovative Medicine. He also recently accepted an advisory position at the Columbia Miami Heart Institute’s Center for Alternative Medicine and Longevity.

Dr. Atkins first gained wide acclaim in 1972 with the publication of his initial book, Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution. The book, which first detailed how a low carbohydrate diet combined with vitamin supplements could address most major health ailments, has become one of the top fifty best selling books of all time, with worldwide sales of more than ten million copies. Dr. Atkins has gone to write several and best selling books, including Dr. Atkins’ Nutrition Breakthrough and Dr. Atkins’ Health Revolution. His most recent book, Dr Atkins’ New Diet Revolution has sold nearly two million copies and spent over one year on the New York Times Bestseller List. In addition to his books, Dr Atkins reaches over one million people monthly via his nationally syndicated radio show, Your Health Choices, and newsletter, Dr Atkins’ Health Revelations. The two others were commissioned by NEW YORK TIMES newspaper to write health books which became instant Euro-American best sellers. They are JEAN CARPER, who wrote STOP AGING NOW and co-authors JUDY LINDBERG McFARLAND and LAURA GLADYS McFARLAND, authors of AGING WITHOUT GROWING OLD.

Jean Carper and the McFarlands gained mastery of the anti-aging industry by attending hundreds of high-powered conferences and seminars during which breakthroughs in scientific studies were discussed. Jean Carper was introduced in her STOP AGING NOW:

“JEAN CARPER is a leading authority on health and nutrition and the author of numerous books, including the best-selling food—Your Miracle Medicine and The Food Pharmacy. She is also a columnist for USA Weekend”.

The book AGING WITHOUT GROWING OLD describes Judy Linberg McFarland as follows:

“JUDY LINDBERG McFARLAND is a world recognized seen on many television programs such as The 700 Club on CBN with Dr. Pat Roberson and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. She now appears on TBN in a weekly series entitled Doctor to Doctor, where she discusses various aspects of health. Judy has a B.S. in Foods and Nutrition form Pepperdine University and learned much of her expertise from her mother, Gladys Lindberg, an early pioneer in the field of applied nutrition. She was the President of American Nutrition Society in Southern California and has been a longtime member of the National Nutritional Goods Association, serving on the Board of Directors. She is a member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. Judy and her husband, Don, own Lindberg Nutrition, their retail store, and Nutrition Express, a mail-order company that ships products throughout the world. These are family businesses run with assistance of their adult children—Gary, Dan, Laura and Douglas”.

 DR ATKINS: Addressing the importance of beta-carotene in hypertension therapy, he says:

“The antioxidant action of beta-carotene plays a very important role in the prevention of heart and artery disease. A study of 333 patients who took 50mg of beta-carotene showed that the nutrient reduced major cardiovascular events by 50% in comparison with people who did not take the supplement. Beta-carotene was also found to have a protective effect in angina patients, who experienced far less chest pain on diets that were high in natural beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is also known to increase the level of the protective HDL cholesterol. Cholesterol cannot clog arteries until it oxidizes, and many studies have shown that beta-carotene can prevent this dangerous reaction from taking place. Although Vitamin C appears to be the first line of defense in protecting cholesterol from going bad, beta-carotene plays an equally important role as the essential backup nutrient”.

 JEAN CARPER: Among her suggestions are Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Beta-carotene, Selenium and Magnesium in addition to “antioxidant packed fruits and vegetables”. She says of magnesium: “Don’t risk aging prematurely and cutting your life short just because you don’t get enough magnesium. It’s a youth preserving mineral, especially for your heart. Even small shortages of magnesium appear to make a difference in how long you live and how fast you age. For one thing, as you age you tend to eat diets lower in magnesium and worse, absorb less of it. That lack can accelerate the aging process, as animal studies strikingly illustrate. Animals made deficient in magnesium age more rapidly and die earlier. Depriving young animals of magnesium creates vascular changes and neuromuscular abnormalities typical in aged animals. Giving animals magnesium supplements prevents these premature aging changes. Indeed, animals starved of magnesium are nearly perfect specimens of accelarated aging, say French researchers.

If you chronically have suboptimal levels of magnesium, you, too, can expect to show the signs of old age earlier on particular, clogged arteries, heart arrhythmias(irregular heartbeats), heart attacks, high blood pressure and Insulin resistance possibly leading to diabetes”.

JUDY McFARLAND: The McFarland mention beta-carotene, Coenzyme Q10(CoQ10), L-carnitine and Magnesium. She mentions, as well, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 to lower Homocysteine blood levels. She does not forget Chromium, Hawthorn berries, Garlic, Cayenne, Flax seed oil and some more.

Of CoQ10, Judy McFarland says: “Coenzyme Q10 also called CoQ10, Ubiquinol 10 or Vitamin Q is now being called a “miracle nutrient” by many. It is an essential component of the metabolic process involved in energy (ATP) production.

Dr. Karl Folkers, who was professor and director of the Institute for Biochemical Research at the University of Texas in Austin, has been recognised for years as the world’s leading at the American Academy big Anti-Aging Medicine conference in 1996. When I told him about this book and that I’d quoted him, with a twinkle in his eye he said, ‘Oh, don’t believe a thing I’ve said’. He was over 90 years old and charming! During this lecture Dr. Folkers said, ‘I don’t use the word ‘cure’ lightly but CoQ10 is the ‘cure’ for heart disease’.

He has conducted biochemical, biomedical and clinical research on CoQ10 for some 35 years and has succeeded in establishing its structure and in isolating CoQ10 in human hearts. The highest concentration of the enzyme is in the heart muscle. His research shows a definite link between CoQ10 deficiency and human heart disease”.

There would appear to be nothing like CoQ10 and Ubiquinol for heart health and heart disease, as this series promises to reveal. Let’s listen again to revolutionary Dr. Robert Atkins.

DR ROBERT ATKINS  says of CoQ10: “All organs with high energy demands need a lot of CoQ10, and the most important is the heart. At the beginning of 1990, some fifty studies around the world attested to CoQ10’s impact on cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, mitral valve and hypertension. When people who needed heart transplants took the nutrient, their conditions improved so remarkably that transplant surgery was no longer necessary. When administered follow(sic) a coronary bypass operation, CoQ10 reduces recovery time. And three separate studies showed that when 100mg was given daily to several thousand people suffering from heart failure, more than 75% displayed improvements in pulmonary function, edema and heart palpitations with no side effects. Nothing in mainstream cardiology comes close to this kind of success. I am at a loss to explain why CoQ10 is not prescribed routinely to every heart patient. I’m particularly impressed by CoQ10’s therapeutic strength in treating cardiomyopathy, a mixed bag of conditions impairing the heart muscle that collectively are the third most common form of cardiovascular disease. Cardiomyopathy often is the most life-threatening of all heart conditions, and it’s probably the number one reason that people undergo a heart transplant operation. Supplementation improves the prognosis in so many instances that I think the condition is best described as a CoQ10 deficiency”.

“Generous doses of CoQ10 have helped clear majority of my cardiomyopathy patients, and several of them, who were on the waiting list for a donor heart, found that their old heart would do just fine. My experience is by no means unique, as the abundant research documents. In one study, 87% of 216 cardiomyopathy patient displayed noticeable improvements in heart function, again without adverse effects, after taking 100mg per day. The virtual absence of side effects could arguably be CoQ10’s foremost advantage. Drugs merely mask symptoms; they don’t solve the underlying problem, which for most heart disease is the continued presence of atherosclerotic plaque buildups that ultimately block blood vessels. Most cardiovascular drugs not only fail to deal with hardening of the arteries, but in many cases compound it, exposing people to even greater perils. CoQ10, in contrast, deals effectively with most of the factors that cause atherosclerosis”.

“The heart is utterly dependent on CoQ10 to meet its constant energy needs; the muscle contains twice as much of the nutrient as any of other organ or tissue in the body. People with heart disease have 25% less CoQ10 than their healthy counterparts. Should the deficiency reach 75%, some experts have speculated, the heart would stop beating. Perhaps this explains why lovastatin and the other overprescribed cholesterol lowering drugs have such a mediocre record for saving lives: one of their side effects is inhibiting the body’s natural ability to make CoQ10. One investigation documented six cases of cardiomyopathy that were caused by lovastatin. Cholesterol drugs are self-defeating in another CoQ10 related way. The ubiquitous quinone actually is a good antioxidant, helping to prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, considered to be the most artery-clogging substance of all. Because CoQ10 migrates naturally to the heart, some researchers suggest that it may be the most important of all antioxidants for preventing atherosclerosis”.

More information about CoQ10 and other natural antihypertension medicines will be discussed as the series continues. Meanwhile, I recommend special places in your health library for the books of Dr. Atkins, DR ATKINS VITA NUTRIENT SOLUTION, Nature’s Answer To Drugs (hardcover ISBN number 9780684818498/paperback 1999 ISBN number 9780684844886), Jean Carper’s STOP AGING NOW (ISBN number 0-06-098500-3) and Judy Lindberg McFarland’s AGING WITHOUT GROWING OLD (ISBN number 0-88419-969-X).

 

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is organising a safety and health conference that will benefit workers, businesses, and the economies of West Africa in September 2021.

The conference will discuss and debate key issues that face the business community regionally and globally and how the application of good safety and health principles at work will bring sustainable competitive advantage.

The theme of the conference “A brighter, safer future – for workers, for businesses, for West Africa” highlights the benefits that workplace safety and health can create for individuals, communities and society.

Participants will be able to take part in debates and listen to keynote presentations and panel discussions involving, among many others, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Global Compact, the Lagos State Safety Commission, the Ghana Health Service and the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria.

READ ALSO: Century Group partners IOSH, CTS Globe for HSE summit 2020

Topics to be discussed include: health and safety in the healthcare sector, educational settings, the impact on different industries of the forthcoming occupational safety and health bill in Ghana as well as the leadership role of women in the occupational safety and health profession.

The online conference, which is free to join, takes place on 16 and 17 September.

It follows a hugely successful event last year, attended by over 900 representatives of government departments, non-governmental organisations, businesses, industry, and academia.

By Adekunle Yusuf

The Chief Medical Director of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Prof Adetokunbo Fabamwo, and other professors from the institution have been inducted as fellows of the prestigious Academy of Medicine Specialties in Nigeria (AMSN). The event took place in Lagos.

Fabamwo, a renowned professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), holds an MBChB degree as well as Fellowships of the National Postgraduate Medical College, West African College of Surgeons and the International College of Surgeons.

He was the Medical Director of Ayinke House for many years and the pioneer Director of Clinical Services and Training at the evolution of LASUTH in 2001.

He has over 70 scientific publications in mainly international peer-reviewed journals. He is a Part One and Part Two Examiner of the Faculty of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the National Postgraduate Medical College and the West African College of Surgeons.

Read Also: Why LASUTH is breaking new frontiers, by CMD

Other members of LASUTH family that also became fellows of the academy are Prof Shamsideen Abayomi Ogun, Department of Internal Medicine/Neurology, LASUCOM/LASUTH; Prof. Fidelis Olisamefua Njokanma, Department of Pediatrics and Child health and former Dean, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, LASUCOM/LASUTH; Prof. Elizabeth Disu, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, LASUCOM/LASUTH; Prof Anthonia Okeoghene Ogbera, Endocrine Unit, Department of Medicine, LASUCOM/LASUTH and Professor Oluwarotimi Ireti Akinola, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, LASUCOM/LASUTH and National President, Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria ( SOGON).

In his congratulatory message, the Director of Clinical Services and Training of the institution, Dr. Adebowale Adekoya, with other top management of LASUTH, felicitated with Fabamwo.

“The institution is delighted to have her CMD and other leading professionals from the institutions to become a part of the academy. This is an acknowledgment of the great work that they are all doing within LASUTH. Everyone should strive and emulate the passion of the CMD to his profession and his daily duties within the institution,” Adekoya said.

Responding on behalf of other fellows, Fabamwo, while appreciating the show of love, gave a brief chronicle of his career and talked about how he overcame several obstacles that could have sabotaged his professional growth.

He pointed out that though he had some delays, the drive to get to the pinnacle of his career brought him this far. He, therefore, encouraged others not to give up on any chance to improve themselves. He said vision, hard work, and focus will help anyone achieve whatever they wish to achieve.

By Adekunle Yusuf and Olaitan Ganiu

The Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) has reiterated the need for pharmaceutical inspectors to keep abreast of current global trends in the industry, saying doing so will enhance service delivery to the public.

The PCN is a Federal Government’s parastatal responsible for regulating and controlling pharmacy education, training and practice.

The Chairman of the Governing Council of PCN, Ahmed Mora, made this assertion yesterday in Lagos at a workshop for pharmaceutical inspectors in the country. The three-day programme, themed, Pharmaceutical Inspection- Need for Excellence in Pharmaceutical Services Delivery, is being conducted in two zones – Northern and Southern. It is designed to inspectors for continuous capacity building and better service delivery.

Mora said that the workshop is timed as new inspectors are continuously accredited and appointed and new regulations are emerging. The old inspectors also need to update their knowledge and acquaint themselves with current trends in the inspectorate activities for effective service delivery, he added. According to him, because the industry is dynamic, it is therefore important for PCN to continuously provide this kind of workshop to improve the skills and knowledge of inspectors so as to keep them abreast of current/new regulations.

“As pharmaceutical inspectors of the PCN, we are expected to exhibit a high level of integrity and carry out our duties diligently. Inspectors must respect rules about confidentiality, and not divulge to others information they have obtained about the premises they have inspected.

Read Also: Fed Govt partners U.S. on pharmaceutical standards

 

“On behalf of the Governing Council of the PCN, I wish you fruitful deliberations and we hope that at end of this workshop. The inspectors would be more equipped in knowledge and skills to carry out effective pharmaceutical inspection of community, wholesale and importation premises,” he said.

Also, Registrar of PCN, Elijah Mohammed, said the council has over the years continued to build the capacity of inspectors through national inspectors’ workshop during which inspectors are refreshed and brought abreast with new development in the pharmaceutical regulatory landscape.

“Inspection of pharmaceutical premises by pharmaceutical inspectors provides an opportunity for continuous improvement on set standards in the pharmaceutical landscape. Thus, the need for training and re-training of inspectors on the current trend in line with global best practices. PCN as a responsible regulatory agency of the Federal Government is committed in building the capacity of her inspectors towards effective service delivery thus the conduct of inspectors’ workshop.

“It also provides an avenue for cross-fertilisation of ideas among inspectors and promotes uniformity of pharmaceutical regulation across the country,” he said.

Mohammed appreciated the United States’ Pharmacopeia Promoting Quality of Medicine plus (USP/PQM+) and USAID for partnership. Pharmaceutical Inspection Committee is set up by PCN to enforce compliance to enabling laws and regulations and provide effective pharmaceutical service delivery to the public.

By Femi Kusa

At meal times everyday, I do not easily lose sight of two important food supplements on the dining-table. One of them is Potato leaf powder. The other is Pumpkin leaf powder. Like Spinach powder, Jute Mallow Ewedu, (Yoruba) powder and some other leaf powders, they are power houses of nutrition in a country such as Nigeria where there is a prevalence of carbohydrate on the dining-table and a harvest of diseases such as diabetes, elevated blood cholesterol, calcified and plaque blocked blood vessels, heart challenges, osteoporosis, easily fractured bones, young boys and girls with genitalia too small for their ages, reproductive age men and women beset with fertility and a lot more health headaches.

Where we are heading are not this trouble. But they are important ports of call on the way. Many Nigerians do not eat potato leaves as a vegetable such as Pumpkin leaves. We are still unlike Asians, Pacific Ocean Islanders and some Africans who recognise that even Banana peel and Plantain peel are more nutritious than banana and plantain and eat them! What got me into taking potato leaf powder as a food supplement?

 

 Potato leaf

Goats eat potato leaves. Out of ignorance, many humans do not. Yet, potato leaves are one of the sources of plant nutrients which not only build and maintain radiance but can prevent cancer and kill health cancer cells as well. Isn’t this good news for people who are challenged with all sorts of cancers? The cancer fighting ability of plant nutrients such as potato are now recognised due to their Polyphenolic compounds. If you ask Mr Olajuwon Okubena, whose Nigerian plant product Jobelyn  is the only plant medicine product in this country listed on the United States National Cancer Institute Drug Dictionary of plant medicines worldwide recommended for cancer therapies, he would gladly and quickly reply that Jobelyn made it to this enviable list only because the rare specie of Soghum Bicolour which is the major ingredient, has a high rating of Polypheolic contents.

In his opinion, these compounds may even have outstaged antioxidants in the onward march of medicine, even though they themselves are antioxidants. Science and medicine are ever on the march, expanding the understanding of our bodies and of our environment as well. Only about a hundred years ago, Louis Pasteur ushered in the Pasteurisation Age. Today, I would not touch Pasteurised food because they are devitalised foods. The Germ Theory of Diseases  lost its hold on researchers because of several persons exposed to the same germ in the same environment, a few may succumb to diseases which the germ may cause while other persons may be unaffected. The difference is all about individual differences which, in this case, boils down to Immunity. From immunity, we have journeyed to Stem Cell medicine using plant stem cells to regenerate dying organs. And from there, Stem  Cell Surgery has come about in which stem cells are surgically taken from a patients bone marrow and transfered to the help-requering organ. Now, it is being whispered that Polyphenolic compounds are those materials which activate all those processes in the body, be they antioxidants or the immune systems, to do their work and make us disease free and energetic. Thus, a plant and its materials are rated high or low in terms of the rating of phenolic or polyphenolic compounds they parade.

Potato leaves are not only rich sources of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants but also of Phenolic and Polyphenolic compounds. Although they are not the concern of this column, they are, nevertheless, important bus-stops or sign posts on the way to the go. So, in the interim, what are some of the health benefits to derive from eating potato leaves as vegetable?

 

Benefits

We grow potato in the flowerbeds at home for its leaves. Eaten raw or lightly cooked, it provides lots of Vitamin A which is good for vision, immunity, healthy skin, hair, nails and bones. It is a good manager of elevated blood sugar, stress inflammation, ulcer, heart and blood vessel diseases. It is a builder of immunity, is antimicrobial, and a promoter of digestion. Most of these attributes come from a high presence of Vitamin K in the leaves. The high amount of Vitamin K in that leaves helps to prevent excessive bleeding, as it also prevents the calcification of the arteries, a cause of elevated blood pressure and heart attacks. It does not permit plaque formation in blood vessels, a healthy support for friendly blood pressure. Calcium needs Vitamin K to settle properly in the bones, prevent and heal fractures and prevent osteoporosis. Vitamin K is a friend of the menstruating woman with a tendency to overbleed and succumb to the pains of cramping uterine muscles.

Sufferers from gum disease and teeth decay should appreciate potato leaf. It is fortified with Vitamins A, C, D and K. These fat soluble vitamins help to prevent teeth and gum decay by eliminating bacteria in the mouth and teeth which cause them. Vitamin K works with these vitamins to eradicate these bacteria.

 

Pumpkin leaf

Many Nigerians eat pumpkin leaves. Some drink the juice to improve blood count because of the high iron content. Pumpkin leaves are as endowed as potato leaves in vitamins and minerals which confer several health benefits. In the 1980s, I wondered if pumpkin leaves would not be rich sources of Zinc, which is plentiful in pumpkin fruits. That was when pumpkin seeds became popular as dietary sources of Zinc for Benign Prostate Hyperplasia(BPH) and inflammation of the prostate gland. If the fruit can be a Zinc provider, why not the leaves?, I wondered. I was right on the mark. Every 100grams of pumpkin seed hold about 7.99mg of Zinc, whereas every 100grams of pumpkin leaf stocks about 22.3mg of Zinc. Many people who eat pumpkin leaves do not know what good they do themselves because the human body requires Zinc for more than 250 of its activities. The potato obliges 0.35mg in every 100grams. Potato leaf gives 0.3mg of Zinc or     three per cent of daily requirement. While potato leaf may not rank high as pumpkin leaf in terms of Zinc supply, it makes up with seven phenolic compounds just as pumpkin leaf. Additionally, potato leaf provides five Chlorogenic acids. Chlorogenic acids lower blood concentrations of glucose, which means they help the burning of blood sugar and, thereby, check diabetes. This is why potato leaf may be combined with pumpkin leaf in a potato tuber diet or any carbohydrates-laden diet. Potato leaf powder is, therefore, recommended for diabetics and people who wish to lower their blood glucose levels either as a tea or a food supplements. This is good news as we pick out nutrients everyday from various food sources. Although from Zinc, I need to mention that potato leaf offers 30mg of Calcium(or 3% of daily value), 25mg of Magnesium(7%), 47mg of Phosphorus(7%), 37mg of Potassium(7%) and 55mg of Sodium(5%).

Google tells us we can obtain a higher Zinc value for potato leaves harvested from Zinc enriched soils. The only problems with that will be that the Vitamin C content will be high, Tyrosine and Phenolic levels in the tuber will reduce. Just as humans exhibit Zinc deficiency in various ways, potato leaves also do. The leaves grow smaller and stunted, deformed with inward folds. In the middle, the leaves may spot greyish brown to bronze blotches and all over, later on. Since researchers have been suggesting that Polyphenols are like the enrichers and activators of plant nutrients and their antioxidants, including Zinc, in the case of potato leaf, it is heart warming to note that several experiments have shown no fewer than seven Polyphenolic compounds and five Chlorogenic acids are present in potato leaves.

 

Zinc in leaves

Here is where we are heading……Zinc, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium and Phosphorus, all very important for health, but more specific for today, Zinc. With Zinc presence in potato and pumpkin leaves…..what makes the powders of these leaves regular features on my dinning table.

 

Zinc

This macromineral which the average adult human requires at about 15mg everyday is wonderful for radiant health in many respects. Matted hair is a sign of Zinc deficiency. In other words, Zinc promotes heathy hair. Zinc plays a crucial role in functions of the central nervous system. A flood of Zinc during epilepsy or seizures, for example may upset this system as a deficiency of the mineral, causing neurodegenerative conditions. Zinc deficiency in the brain have been linked as well to such mental disorders as Schizophrenia, a condition in which the challenged person does not think straight, always fearful, misbehave due to faulty perceptions and withdraws from relationships.

Night blindness……may be a sign of Zinc deficiency. In other words, Zinc promotes healthy vision. If we didn’t realise that Vitamin A promotes healthy vision, we should not at least guess when we see babies taken to hospital till they are about five years old for periodic sublingual dosing with Vitamin A to avert vision challenges. But of what value is the Vitamin A in the eyes of everyone if the eyes can hardly use it in the absence of Zinc? Zinc is highly concentrated in the eye. It has been suggested that Zinc deficiences in the eye, along with other nutrient deficiences, causes cataract of the eye lens and changes at the back of the eye where images are registered on the optic nerve. My generation of children and young adults enjoyed Zinc Lozenges which we chewed and let slowly trickle down the throat to offset cough and sore-throat. We also knew about Calamine Lotion  which our mothers draped our bodies with at the slightest sing of measles or other dangerous skin eruptions. Zinc is one of the dominants ingredients in Calamine Lotion.

Zinc is important for growth and fertility…….Zinc deficiency causes stunted growth. It may make the ovaries and the testes under-function. It helps to maintain the lining of reproduction tracks. Being alkaline and antioxidants, it protects the sperm against acidosis and free radical attacks. Adequate Zinc blood levels support the production of healthy cells. There is evidence of testicular degeneration in Zinc deficient in male. Rexadams reports in his Miracle Medicine Foods that, in a popular Egyptian study, boys and girls who came to puberty with underdeveloped male organs and breasts were given Zinc food supplements for three months. At the end of the study, they not only grew taller, they achieved as well big and longer organs and bigger breasts. They also grew taller. Alone or along with such herbs of Vitex, Dong Qual, Black Cohosh, Peruvian Macca and Ashwa Ghandah, Zinc has helped many women correct hormone imbalances which may cause conception delays or sustenance of pregnancy or period pains and premenstrual syndrome. For  men, Zinc diet supplement has helped to increase sperm count, improve sperm morphology and motility and overcome acidic passages in a woman’s reproductive channels which may kill off the sperm.

Prostate gland…

Men who face prostate gland challenges may be helped with Zinc supplements. The Prostate gland is believed to be the largest store house of Zinc in the body. Zinc must accompany the sperm with an alkaline and antioxidants semen environment. It also checks an enzyme in the prostate gland called 5–Alpha Reductase, from becoming too garulous as it were in its own functions there. Overactivity of this enzyme may overstimulate prostatic cells to overgrow and cause prostate gland enlargement. Zinc stocks in the gland may reduce for various reasons and pay the way for this misnomer. If the body is becoming acidic due to acidic diet, stress, negative emotions or umbrilled sexual engagements and consequent Zinc losses through ejaculations, Zinc levels in the prostate gland may reduce. This is if the diet does not bring more into the pantry. In such a situation, 5–Alpha Reductase may have a free rein in the conversion of Testosterone, the male hormone, into DihydrotestosteroneIHYDRO TESTOSTERONE(DHT) a powerful agent. This is why in cases of hormone fuelled prostate gland, doctors prefer to surgically removed the testes to reduce the amount of testosterone in the system. Happily, nowadays, the knowledge of the place of Zinc in these matters is growing.

It is in the activity of the immune system that Zinc again reveals its value. Many people do not know they have a gland called the Thymus and of its role in the defence of their bodies. The Thymus is behind the breast bone. It produces a Zinc dependent nonapeptide enzyme called Thymulin. The job of Thymulin is to complete the development and maturation of T-cells and Natural killer cells(NK) of the immune system. In many Zinc deficient middle-aged persons, the Thymus gland, located behind in the sternum, between the lungs, may have shruken to about a quarter of its natural size. That means restrained capacity in the maturation of T-Lymphocytes, and, immune responses in a way. The good cheer is that two months of Zinc supplementation often regularises Thymus gland size and capacity.

 

Other uses

Zinc deficiency causes poor wound healing. Thus, Zinc supplementation before and after surgery is advisable. Ulcers may accompany use of anti-inflammatory drugs and anti-histamines. Thus, Zinc as a part of the protocols is not out of place for healing ulcerations. Dr. F. Bathmanghelidy showed the importance of Zinc to the immune system when he used it to kill the once feared Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV) in test tubes. He believed there was no HIV but cells which lack Zinc and the amino acid cysteine. So when he added both to cultured so-called HIV cells, and they reverted to normal cells, Zinc and cysteine, like Selenium, joined HIV therapy protocol. Diabetics and sufferers from Rheumatoid Arthritis(RA) and urinary excrete the pancreas requires a lot of Zinc and make Insulin replenishment and lower high blood cholesterol. Zinc improves libido in men and women. A deficiency in pregnant women may cause low birth weight, pregnancy related problems such as spontaneous abortions or low progesterone levels, an invitation to cravings for sweet and salty foods. Diminished taste and smell acuity also goes back to Zinc. People with low stomach acids who cannot easily digest Zinc, such as old people, may profit from Chelated Zinc. This type of Zinc is attached to another substance which makes Zinc easily soluble and which also attaches to other minerals, including heavy metals. Chelated Zinc is known for removing heavy metals from the organs and the cells to prevent damage to them by this metals.

I would like to wrap it up with the voice of Dr Robert Atkins, who lived ahead of his time as I always say, because his prescriptions as far back as when he documented some of them in one of his books, Dr. Atkins Vital-Nutrient Solution, are being validated everywhere on the globe today, after much detours from nutritional medicines. His books are well recommended by this column for the health libraries of serious health seekers. Hear Dr. Atkins, for example, in respect of Zinc and Neurological Illnesses:

“As part of my introduction to nutritional medicine, Dr. Carl Pfeiffer taught me that Zinc (along with its supporting mineral, Manganese) is the essential treatment for such serious psychiatric disorders as schizophrenia and clinical depression. He saw schizophrenia as a “dysperception syndrome” caused by biochemical imbalances. Hearing voices, for example, was simply a flawed perception that often could be eliminated by giving Zinc, Manganese and B-vitamins. A Zinc deficiency, we now recognise, can be implicated in a whole range of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Huntington’s disease, dyslexia, acute psychosis, dementia, anorexia nervosa, attention deficit disorder and depression.

Zinc supplements may help to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The presence of the Zinc-dependent thymus hormone, thymulin, is almost undetectable in people with Alzheimer’s, implying that a Zinc deficiency plays a role in the disease’s onset”.

 

Conclusion

How else can I conclude all of this but to say (1) our knowledge of Zinc has grown beyond the use of Zinc Lozenges for cough and sore-throat (2) Zinc has also gone beyond use in Calamine Lotion for skin challenges (3)Zinc is that multipurpose mineral which we must seek from foods, from soil that has not been depleted of it and, if we suspect Zinc is gone from the soil, from Zinc supplements of salts.