The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Food

  • Centres to begin food classes

    The Lagos State government has reiterated its determination to encourage primary health centres to organise food demonstration classes, Deputy Governor Idiat Oluranti Adebule has said.

    She said at the classes, mothers would be taught the processes of combining local food to enjoy their benefits.

    The deputy governor spoke at the inauguration of the State Committee on Food and Nutrition (SCFN).

    Represented by the Permanent Secretary in her office, Michael Dawodu, she said the programme was based on the importance government attached to food and nutrition.

    The deputy governor said it was regrettable that as important as food was to human beings, there was food insecurity,  caused by lack of modern farming techniques, poor distribution system, inadequate storage technology and facilities, inadequate transportation as well as poor market information for farmers.

    She said to cushion the effect, government was working to improve food sustainability and nutrition by encouraging farming.

    “The government has acquired 1,084 hectares of land in Osun State for oil processing, agric-YES and other agricultural purposes, while 500 hectares was acquired in Ogun State for rice production in addition to 50 hectares in Abuja for arable farming,” Mrs. Adebule said.

    The committee Chairman, Abayomi Kadiri, hoped that nutrition intervention would add value to other investments in health, education and poverty reduction.

    The representative of the chairperson of the National Committee on Food and Nutrition in Nigeria, Mrs. Roselyn Ronke Gabriel, hailed the sgovernment on the inauguration.

    saying “It is a good step in the  right direction”.

  • ‘Our food stuff safe for consumption’

    Lassa Fever, which was first discovered in lassa town in Borno State in 1969, has killed scores of Nigerians in the last six months of its outbreak.  It was gathered that despite the rise in the number of people that have died of this deadly disease, Nigerians still couldn’t do without eating.

    The Ojuwoye market in Mushin, Lagos  attracts a large number of shoppers daily.  It was observed that some buyers look more observant when buying foodstuff which are prone to be infected by rats. Madam Rotimi, a shopper, said that she often asks the sellers if their items have been eaten by rats or if they have noticed rat fea ces in whatever they sell. She said that some of the traders lie to her but she takes precautions when buying from them. A yam seller, Omobolanle Babajide, disclosed that rats ate her tubers of yam and she had to cut out the part before cooking.

    The scare of Lassa Fever has made many shoppers wary of what they buy. And while many of them have resorted to physical means of checking whatever they buy, some shoppers like Babawande Ibidun rely on God, saying that she prays to God whenever she comes to the market to buy food stuff. Ibidun however, urged all Nigerians to be observant and cook whatever they purchase for consumption very well because heat helps in killing germs. According to her, if it can’t be cooked, it is advisable to be thrown away for safety reasons.

    As The Nation Shopping moved to other parts of the market, Mrs Okeke, who sells food stuffs, said that she eats any of her product rat destroys. She makes sure  she cooks it very well before consumption. Mrs Okeke explained that she makes use of rat killers in her shop and also seals opened cartons with cello tape after each day’s sales.

    Another trader at the market, Kadiri Yusuf, explained how he prevents rats from his food stuffs.

  • Food as medicine

    Food as medicine

     The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Health Forever Products Limited, Otunba Olajuwon Okubena writes on the role of food as ‘medicine’.

    Hippocrates lived about 2,500 years ago. The interpretation of his quote is that the ideal food should have, in addition to normal food, nutrients, such as sugar, elements, vitamins and fatty acids.

    The quote is a confirmation of what the scriptures had said from beginning of creation. Going through the scriptures, Genesis 1:29 said: “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food”.

    In Ezekiel 47:12, the Bible says: “ Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river, their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, every month they will bear fruit because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing. Another interesting portion of the Bible is Daniel Chapter 1:5-15, where Daniel in captivity refused to defile himself with portion of the King’s meat, nor the wine which he drank, but preferred to eat vegetables and drink water.

    At the end of 10 day’s trial, he looked much better than those who were fed with the King’s meat. The last chapter of the Bible, Revelation Chapter 22:12, also confirms the importance of plant that it is for the healing of the nations.

    The Holy Quran contains an interesting portion in Chapter 16:69, where it states: “Then eat of all fruits and walk in the ways of your Lord submissively. There comes forth within it a beverage of many colours, in which there is healing for men”.

    Holy Prophet Muhammed lived about 1600 years ago and with this portion of the Quran prophesied what in modern times is known as Antioxidants. They are produced from plants with colours. Examples are Acai berry, tart cherry, blue berry, etc.

    All health authorities, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirm that it is only food and nutrition that could prevent you from chronic diseases, such as cancer, heart  diseases, diabetes, arthritis etc. No drug has yet been discovered to play this role.

    First, about half of all American adults—117 million individuals—have one or more preventable, chronic diseases, and about two-thirds of U.S. adults—nearly 155 million individuals—are overweight or obese. These conditions have been highly prevalent for more than two decades. Poor dietary patterns, overconsumption of calories, and physical inactivity directly contribute to these disorders. Second, individual nutrition and physical activity behaviours and other health-related lifestyle behaviours are strongly influenced by personal, social, organisational, and environmental contexts and systems. Positive changes in individual diet and physical activity behaviours, and in the environmental contexts and systems that affect them, could substantially improve health outcomes.

    Humans require a wide range of essential micronutrients and macronutrients for normal growth and development and to support healthy aging throughout the life cycle. Essential nutrients, including most vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids, water and fiber, must be obtained through foods and beverages because they cannot for the most part be endogenously synthesised, or are not endogenously synthesised in adequate amounts to need recommended intakes.

    Nutrition is coming to the fore as a major modifiable determinant of chronic disease, with scientific evidence increasingly supporting the view that alterations in diet have strong effects, both positive and negative, on health throughout life. Most importantly, dietary adjustments may not only influence present health, but may determine whether or not an individual will develop such diseases as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes much later in life. However, these concepts have not led to a change in policies or in practice. In many developing countries, food policies remain focused only on under nutrition and are not addressing the prevention of chronic disease – WHO.

    Unfortunately, no single food item has been identified to prevent these chronic diseases  to fulfill the famous Hippocrates quote that: “Let food be thy medicine and let thy medicine be food.The pharmaceutical companies in an attempt to fill the gap have formulated dietary and  food supplements to supply the nutritional items in the ordinary man’s food intake.The companies have assembled synthetic equivalent of the essential nutrients as  supplement. In most cases, they are not bio-available.‘’

    Researchers from various parts of the world have published documents pointing in the direction of Sorghum as the a grain that would fulfill Hippocrates quote because it combines both food and medicine. There are different varieties of the Sorghum plant. These are mainly the edible and the medicinal Sorghum. The latter contains food and almost all the essential ingredients but it is poisonous. At the time the Americans saw the potential of this plant and decided to propagate it in the United States, they were only interested in the edible variety which they have improved over the centuries using the plant genetic engineering.

    A recent publication by Nancy D. Turner Associate Professor of Nutrition, Food Science and Genetics Texas A&M University, College Station  advocated that the  national goal is to “avoid preventable diseases from occurring in the first place “ and suggested that Sorghum is the grain that Americans should be consuming for this purpose. She concluded that Sorghum grain and their bioactive phytochemicals appear to contribute toward the suppression of several chronic diseases , that the national goal is to “avoid preventable diseases from occurring in the first place”and that to achieve the  Target to double whole grain consumption ,  Sorghum should be included in our food supply to derive these health benefits.

    In another recent publication by Anita Stefoska-Needham School of Medicine, Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Australia , it was stated: Sorghum is an important cereal grain food, grown globally, that is rich in nutrients, dietary fiber, and bioactive components yet is considered of low value to humans and often used as an animal feed. This review provides an overview of key sorghum grain components, including starches, dietary fiber, protein, lipids, and phytochemicals, with functional properties that have potential to impact on health. Though acknowledging the impact of the whole food will reflect the synergy between the components, studies of these components implicate effects on energy balance, glycemic control, lipids, gut microbiota, and cell-mediated immune responses, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. For these to be confirmed as contributory effects from sorghum consumption, evidence from quality randomised controlled trials is required. If proven effective, there may be a role for sorghum grain–based diets to assist in the prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Future research addressing effects of sorghum consumption may help drive a paradigm shift from sorghum as a low value food to a potentially health-promoting, highly valued human grain food.

    From Nigerian folk medicine, the medicinal sorghum, which had been in the custody of the people of the Southwest, had been developed to a product (Jobelyn) that had been researched to contain food and medicine.  Recent laboratory research from GMP Laboratories in the USA confirmed that it contained Vitamins, Selenium, Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, Phosphorus, Sodium, Copper, Omega3, 6 & 9 and other  fatty acids.

    For millennia, the indigenous people of western Africa have relied on this botanical to support whole health and a balanced inflammation cycle.

    A simple bunchgrass, Sorghum bicolour’s superior antioxidant capacity is revealed only through a traditional folk preparation of its leaf sheath.

    Modern science has been working hard in the past 15 years to isolate the plant’s antioxidant components in an effort to create a synthetic version. The results? It doesn’t work. The impressive ORAC rating, higher than grapeseed extract and well-known antioxidant berries and fruits, is seen only within the traditionally prepared African remedy using the sorghum leaf in its complete natural state.

    We call our Sorghum ingredient “Jobelyn” after the Jubi River where it originally grew wild. Now a domesticated plant, it is grown on our own organic plantation.

    3-Deoxyanthocyanidins are rare flavonoids found in only a few plant species. These unique flavonoids are the major pigments in the flowers of Sinningia cardinalis, and they are found in silk tissues of certain types of corn. Sorghum is the only dietary source of 3-deoxyanthocyanidins.

    Many plants use secondary metabolites, such as flavonoids, to protect themselves against pathogen attack. In sorghum, this defense is an active response resulting in the accumulation of high levels of 3-deoxyanthocyanidin phytoalexins in infected tissue. This defensive mechanism is the power that Jobelyn uses to strengthen the body and promote whole health.

  • Food prices ease as supplies pick up after festivity

    Food prices ease as supplies pick up after festivity

    After the usual hike in the prices of staple food items during the Yuletide, TONIA ‘DIYAN reports that prices of food items have returned to normalcy. Some items sold in small quantities are now more, while others which were never available can now be bought. 

    It has become a tradition, especially in Lagos markets for prices of foodstuff and other commodities, to remain unstable or relatively high after festivities. But this year, the reverse is the case as major staple food items have either drop in price, become available or increased in quantity.

    Visits to some markets in Lagos and a survey on other major markets have shown that prices of commodities have dropped by more than 50 per cent having seen high level of irregularity since December last year, during the Christmas celebrations when some items were sold twice their usual prices. Ordinarily, prices should return to normal after festivities, but the reverse is the case with staple items, particularly in Lagos.

    Prices of pepper, tomatoes, onions and beans amongst other staple food items have dropped in most Lagos markets due to the dry season.

    At Mile 12 market in Lagos, The Nation Shopping observed that pepper and tomatoes are no longer as expensive as before. A tomatoes seller, simply known as Madam Ramota, confirmed that the price of the produce have reduced due to the season. “Before now, we sold a basket of tomatoes for N18, 000 and N25, 000, particularly at Christmas. It is cheaper now because it is the season for plenty of pepper and tomatoes, we sell for N3, 500 and N4000.

    At Mushin market also in Lagos, Mrs Olowu, a tomatoes and pepper seller confirmed that tomato is in its season- the reason the produce is cheap. “We buy a basket of tomatoes for N3, 500 and N4, 000, last month; we bought the same basket of tomato N17, 000 per basket,’’ she said.

    A basket of tatashe (bell pepper) cost N3, 500 against its former N7, 000 per basket. Ata rodo (small round pepper) which used to sell for N18000 and N17,000 per basket sells for N5, 000. Earlier, housewives avoided cooking with fresh tomatoes because of its high cost; they rather went for alternatives like tomato paste and try grinded pepper. Now N150 worth of tomato and pepper can make a pot of soup. This reduction in price, it was learnt, would last till April, after which there would be scarcity because rain would not allow the produce to grow properly, therefore, the little available ones will become expensive.

    Also at the market, price of onions has reduced. A basket of onion which was formerly N30, 000 sells for N13, 000 and N15, 000 now.

    According to Mrs Awoyemi, an onion seller in the market, “Baskets of onion comes in large quantities and are less expensive compared to last month when the produce was scare, few quantity available and very expensive too.”

    She however explained that the low price rate is not going to last for than two months before it becomes expensive again.

    Secretary, Tomato dealers in Mile 12 market, Lawan Bilya Adam, said the arrival of fresh tomatoes was the major reason that forced the price to reduce.

    He said: “We thank God that the price has significantly reduced due to availability of new tomatoes in the market. Even though the prices vary but we hope that they will be stable and come down finally to a reasonable level so that people can buy the basket without problem. The new commodity is supplied to market on daily basis. To that effect the price will come down.”

    The price of fish has remained relatively expensive, according to traders who sell the item. A fish seller at Oyingbo market known as Mrs Rashida Onanuga said fish is expensive. According to her, she buys a cartoon of fish for N18, 000, the type she used to buy for N12, 000 few months ago.

    Also at the stock fish section of the market, Steven Aguwamba and his brother Bethel Nwachukwu own a shop where they sell stock fish in bulk to people who resell. They buy directly from the importers. Stock , they said, is imported from Iceland and they used to buy from the importers for N45,000 or N35,000, now they buy between N38,000 and N50,000 and sometimes, N100,000 because the amount paid on a 40-metre container is about N1. 4million. They, however, advised that the government should help with the dollar exchange issue and fish sellers to grow the cat fish business in Nigeria instead of concentrating solely on crude oil.

    At Daleko Market, the price of a 50-kilogramme bag of rice ranged from N7,300 to N9,500.

    Mrs Yinka Okunola, a rice seller at the market, said the prices of rice went down due to availability of local variety.

    “The locally produced rice has penetrated the market and is competing favourably with the imported rice and this has forced a reduction in the prices of rice.

    “The lowest we sold imported rice was N10,000, but now with N8,500, you can purchase some of the various brands,” said Okunola.

    However, the costs of cartons of frozen turkey and chicken had gone up slightly.

    A carton of turkey goes for N8,000 from N7, 700, while the chicken sells for N7,000 from N6,500.

    Mrs Adijat, a dealer in frozen foods, attributed the price change to increase in foreign exchange rate and epileptic power supply.

    At the Iddo market, a bag of beans sells for N16,300, from the N15,900 it sold last year.

    At the Whitesand Market at Oyingbo, a 25-litre keg of vegetable oil goes for N6,000, an increase of N200 from the N5,800 it sold previously.

    A 25-litre of palm oil goes for N6,850 from N6,600, the drum  costs N50,500, while the price of oil in bottle remained N250.

  • Utomi: encourage food processers

    Founder, Centre for Value and Leadership, Prof Pat Utomi, has said indigenous food producers should be encouraged to make their products meet world standards.

    To meet the demand for processed food, he said producers  should modernise their technology, and improve their marketing activities and brand building.

    Utomi spoke at the just-concluded  Food Bext West Africa Exhibition in Lagos.

    He said: “It is my view that if we focus on the strategy of processing what we produce and there is a clear national strategy, corporate strategy will key into it and use it as a great advantage to help drive the economy of this nation.”

    Earlier at the opening of the AgrikExpo, Chairman of Venus Processing and Packaging Limited (VPPL) Otunba Christopher Tugbobo, said: “I am very happy to be a part of this venture because Sympli proves that Nigeria is capable of doing new things in agriculture that can help reduce our dependence on oil and gas.

    “Sympli is produced 100 per cent  locally by Nigerians for Nigerians and this gives me hope as it creates much needed employment, helps reduce post-harvest losses and gives Nigerians a home grown brand in the frozen food segment that we can all be proud of.’’

    Sympli is the brand name   foods produced by VPPL, which is a part of the PRIMLAKS Group.

    The locally farmed, processed and packed Sympli products, which include ‘Yam Fries’, ‘Yam Cubes,’ Plantain ‘Dodo’ and Plantain Chips, are delivered in ready-to-cook state for frying, steaming or baking.

  • Food as medicine

    Food as medicine

     The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Health Forever Products Limited, Otunba Olajuwon Okubena writes on the role of food as ‘medicine’.

    Hippocrates lived about 2,500 years ago. The interpretation of his quote is that the ideal food should have, in addition to normal food, nutrients, such as sugar, elements, vitamins and fatty acids.

    The quote is a confirmation of what the scriptures had says from beginning of creation. Going through the scriptures, Genesis 1:29 said: “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food”.

    In Ezekiel 47:12, the Bible says: “ Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river, their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, every month they will bear fruit because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing. Another interesting portion of the Bible is Daniel Chapter 1:5-15, where Daniel in captivity refused to defile himself with portion of the King’s meat, nor the wine which he drank, but preferred to eat vegetables and drink water.

    At the end of 10 day’s trial, he looked much better than those who were fed with the King’s meat. The last chapter of the Bible, Revelation Chapter 22:12, also confirms the importance of plant that it is for the healing of the nations.

    The Holy Quran contains an interesting portion in Chapter 16:69, where it states: “Then eat of all fruits and walk in the ways of your Lord submissively. There comes forth within it a beverage of many colours, in which there is healing for men”.

    Holy Prophet Muhammed lived about 1600 years ago and with this portion of the Quran prophesied what in modern times is known as Antioxidants. They are produced from plants with colours. Examples are Acai berry, tart cherry, blue berry, etc.

    All health authorities, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirm that it is only food and nutrition that could prevent you from chronic diseases, such as cancer, heart  diseases, diabetes, arthritis etc. No drug has yet been discovered to play this role.

    First, about half of all American adults—117 million individuals—have one or more preventable, chronic diseases, and about two-thirds of U.S. adults—nearly 155 million individuals—are overweight or obese. These conditions have been highly prevalent for more than two decades. Poor dietary patterns, overconsumption of calories, and physical inactivity directly contribute to these disorders. Second, individual nutrition and physical activity behaviours and other health-related lifestyle behaviours are strongly influenced by personal, social, organisational, and environmental contexts and systems. Positive changes in individual diet and physical activity behaviours, and in the environmental contexts and systems that affect them, could substantially improve health outcomes.

    Humans require a wide range of essential micronutrients and macronutrients for normal growth and development and to support healthy aging throughout the life cycle. Essential nutrients, including most vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids, water and fiber, must be obtained through foods and beverages because they cannot for the most part be endogenously synthesised, or are not endogenously synthesised in adequate amounts to need recommended intakes.

    Nutrition is coming to the fore as a major modifiable determinant of chronic disease, with scientific evidence increasingly supporting the view that alterations in diet have strong effects, both positive and negative, on health throughout life. Most importantly, dietary adjustments may not only influence present health, but may determine whether or not an individual will develop such diseases as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes much later in life. However, these concepts have not led to a change in policies or in practice. In many developing countries, food policies remain focused only on under nutrition and are not addressing the prevention of chronic disease – WHO.

    Unfortunately, no single food item has been identified to prevent these chronic diseases  to fulfill the famous Hippocrates quote that: “Let food be thy medicine and let thy medicine be food.The pharmaceutical companies in an attempt to fill the gap have formulated dietary and  food supplements to supply the nutritional items in the ordinary man’s food intake.The companies have assembled synthetic equivalent of the essential nutrients as  supplement. In most cases, they are not bio-available.‘’

    Researchers from various parts of the world have published documents pointing in the direction of Sorghum as the a grain that would fulfill Hippocrates quote because it combines both food and medicine. There are different varieties of the Sorghum plant. These are mainly the edible and the medicinal Sorghum. The latter contains food and almost all the essential ingredients but it is poisonous. At the time the Americans saw the potential of this plant and decided to propagate it in the United States, they were only interested in the edible variety which they have improved over the centuries using the plant genetic engineering.

    A recent publication by Nancy D. Turner Associate Professor of Nutrition, Food Science and Genetics Texas A&M University, College Station  advocated that the  national goal is to “avoid preventable diseases from occurring in the first place “ and suggested that Sorghum is the grain that Americans should be consuming for this purpose. She concluded that Sorghum grain and their bioactive phytochemicals appear to contribute toward the suppression of several chronic diseases , that the national goal is to “avoid preventable diseases from occurring in the first place”and that to achieve the  Target to double whole grain consumption ,  Sorghum should be included in our food supply to derive these health benefits.

    In another recent publication by Anita Stefoska-Needham School of Medicine, Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Australia , it was stated: Sorghum is an important cereal grain food, grown globally, that is rich in nutrients, dietary fiber, and bioactive components yet is considered of low value to humans and often used as an animal feed. This review provides an overview of key sorghum grain components, including starches, dietary fiber, protein, lipids, and phytochemicals, with functional properties that have potential to impact on health. Though acknowledging the impact of the whole food will reflect the synergy between the components, studies of these components implicate effects on energy balance, glycemic control, lipids, gut microbiota, and cell-mediated immune responses, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. For these to be confirmed as contributory effects from sorghum consumption, evidence from quality randomised controlled trials is required. If proven effective, there may be a role for sorghum grain–based diets to assist in the prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Future research addressing effects of sorghum consumption may help drive a paradigm shift from sorghum as a low value food to a potentially health-promoting, highly valued human grain food.

    From Nigerian folk medicine, the medicinal sorghum, which had been in the custody of the people of the Southwest, had been developed to a product (Jobelyn) that had been researched to contain food and medicine.  Recent laboratory research from GMP Laboratories in the USA confirmed that it contained Vitamins, Selenium, Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, Phosphorus, Sodium, Copper, Omega3, 6 & 9 and other  fatty acids.

    For millennia, the indigenous people of western Africa have relied on this botanical to support whole health and a balanced inflammation cycle.

    A simple bunchgrass, Sorghum bicolour’s superior antioxidant capacity is revealed only through a traditional folk preparation of its leaf sheath.

    Modern science has been working hard in the past 15 years to isolate the plant’s antioxidant components in an effort to create a synthetic version. The results? It doesn’t work. The impressive ORAC rating, higher than grapeseed extract and well-known antioxidant berries and fruits, is seen only within the traditionally prepared African remedy using the sorghum leaf in its complete natural state.

    We call our Sorghum ingredient “Jobelyn” after the Jubi River where it originally grew wild. Now a domesticated plant, it is grown on our own organic plantation.

    3-Deoxyanthocyanidins are rare flavonoids found in only a few plant species. These unique flavonoids are the major pigments in the flowers of Sinningia cardinalis, and they are found in silk tissues of certain types of corn. Sorghum is the only dietary source of 3-deoxyanthocyanidins.

    Many plants use secondary metabolites, such as flavonoids, to protect themselves against pathogen attack. In sorghum, this defense is an active response resulting in the accumulation of high levels of 3-deoxyanthocyanidin phytoalexins in infected tissue. This defensive mechanism is the power that Jobelyn uses to strengthen the body and promote whole health.

  • All set for taste of Lagos food festival

    All set for taste of Lagos food festival

    The maiden edition of Taste of Lagos ‘the original’, a national template for bringing stakeholders in the food industry together to celebrate indigenous foods, will make its debut at the  National Stadium, Lagos from December 2 to 5 .

    The Chief Consultant of Iconic Events Ltd, Mr Abiodun Fagbohun, organisers of the event, described Taste of Lagos ‘the Original’ as a concept modelled after popular annual global taste festivals, stressing that the essence of the festival is to bring together the indigenous foods that reflect the cosmopolitan nature of Lagos.

    “We conceptualised Taste of Lagos as the first of our pan-Nigerian initiative to popularise the rich food and beverage culture of our nation as well as help to reinforce the visibility of every state of the federation on the world tourism map,” he said, adding: “It is when we embrace programmes like this to appreciate our foods that our farmers will be encouraged to produce more and the economy will be the better for it.”

    Fagbohun said the week-long Taste of Lagos will avail food producers and manufacturers the opportunity to showcase their products and give Nigerians enough reasons to patronise them.

    “Special features of the event include ‘celebrity kitchen’ where popular entertainment personalities would test their culinary prowess. About 200 secondary school pupils would also be hosted as special guests every day to enable them appreciate the richness of Nigerian foods. Nutrition experts will also be on hand to share knowledge on the nutritional values of indigenous foods,” he said.

    He said the concept of Taste of Lagos was introduced to the Lagos State government in 2005, following which Iconic Events Ltd registered the rights nationwide in keeping with global standards of the event.

    “We have the original rights to stage this event in Nigeria because the taste concept has a universal template that must be followed,” Fagbohun said

    He further explained that Taste of Lagos and others that would go  across the country in 2016, will be targeted at reviving the indigenous food culture in Nigeria as well as avoiding potential loss of huge domestic and foreign earning from tourism.

    “The more we move away from our food culture, the more we move away from what nature has endowed us with and in the next 20 years, we stand the danger of not finding local delicacies on family food menus,” he said.

    Statutory bodies in charge of foods and standards are expected at the Taste of Lagos food fair, which will be livened up with music and dance performances from across Lagos and Nigeria.

     

  • U.S to assist Nigeria to develop retail food industry

    The United  States (U.S) government has assured Nigeria of its  readiness  to  support   current  efforts on food security to  enable consumers enjoy stable supplies and reasonable food prices.

    Speaking with journalists in Lagos before the commencement of Retail Food Development Conference with Building Capacity to Create and Sustain Superior Performance in the Retail Food Business in Nigeria as its theme, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA’s) Regional Agricultural Counselor for Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Cameroon and Liberia, Kurt Seifarth said U.S will grant aid to help increase food production and ensure that the food chain works.

    He said the USDA had explored a number of tangible measures which, if implemented, would have a significant impact on food security and directly benefit consumers.

    According to him, supermarkets and other retail outlets  have key roles to play in feeding the population as  part of the food value chains, adding that it has become necessary to strengthen safety controls to help smallholders engage with large retailers on wider markets for their agricultural products.

    He said smallholders and large commercial retailers need an enabling environment with adequate training, storage infrastructure, new skills and methods with which to improve the resilience of their production systems.

    He commended the Federal Government for containing the outbreak of bird flu, adding that it demonstrated the  preparedness of the government to combat poultry  health emergencies.

    According to him, the bird flu impact on U.S was devastating with the  incidence and spread of high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)  growing faster than expected.

    He noted that quick action and good biosecurity measures were the keys to control highly pathogenic avian influenza, adding that the U.S was quite unprepared for the avian influenza outbreak.

    He said the country was so shocked by the outbreak that it introduced a high surveillance programme with stringent biosecurity measures.

    The outbreak experienced in America which came to an end in June, was the largest animal disease outbreak the country has ever experienced.

     

  • Food and mental health

    Ordinary life may constantly present to us many hardships, challenges, problems, and undesirable issues (as well as joys and positive experiences).   The comforts of good food, a good home, and a good family life are the ordinary means of retirement from each day’s work and social experiences.

    If you could invent or find a moodometer to measure your mood, you may find a depression in mood when hungry and tired and an elevation in mood after eating a meal that is good, nice, and delicious.

    The human mind of a person in a civil society requires an ability to keep its balance or to keep balancing itself throughout a life of mental bombardments.  Many factors make up a fit mind and the chief amongst these factors may be good nutrition of the brain, regular use of the brain in thinking, and regular use of the mind in prayer.  Nutrition of the brain may be ultimate as the living brain is what makes thinking and prayer possible.However, a biologically alive brain does not always make a good mind without regular and effective exercise of thought and prayer.

    Food that yields good nutrition is important.  What a person eats or doesn’t eat can help him or her remain mentally balanced or can make him mentally unbalanced.“A hungry man is an angry man” says an English proverb. Can food and eating habits run us psychotic, depressive, or manic? Bloody uprisings and revolutions arise from hungry people exploding against real or perceived oppressors. Women know that one of the easiest ways to a man’s heart or wallet is his stomach.  A man will think positively towards you if you feed him well.

    The Mental Health Foundation (http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-a-z/d/diet/) indicates that someresearch show that:  “Nearly two thirds of those who do not report daily mental health problems eat fresh fruit or fruit juice every day, compared with less than half of those who do report daily mental health problems. This pattern is similar for fresh vegetables and salad. Those who report some level of mental health problem also eat fewer healthy foods (fresh fruit and vegetables, organic foods and meals made from scratch) and more unhealthy foods (chips and crisps, chocolate, ready meals and takeaways).”  Now all these foods are good to some extent but the proportion or frequency in which they are consumed is what matters for good brain function.

    Generally, it may pay us well to eat sufficient proteins, carbohydrates, and healthy fats with a variety of vegetables and fruits from meal to meal.  The vegetables and fruits provide us with minerals and vitamins which are vital for good health.

    We do not need numerous varieties of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats except for pleasure but we do need sufficient quantities of these.  The brain needs proteins and fats from the meat, fish, milk, and vegetables that we consume in order to preserve brain tissues, as well as energy from the carbohydrates we consume in order to fuel brain activities. Many of the hormonal and chemical players involved in brain function are built from amino acids from the proteins that we consume.

    On the other hand, the required minerals and vitamins are numerous but are only needed in minute amounts.  Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables from day to day allows us to get a little bit of the various vitamins and minerals every now and then.

    WebMD (http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20150820/food-mental-health?page=3) tells us how some of these nutrients help the brain.

    “People with low B12 levels have more brain inflammation and higher rates of depression and dementia. Falling short on folate has long been linked to low moods.”

    “Too little iron in the blood (iron-deficiency anemia) has been linked to depression.”

    “Omega-3….fatty acids improve thinking and memory and, possibly, mood.”

    “Zinchelps control the body’s response to stress. Low levels can cause depression”.

    “Fatty fish like salmon and mackerel provide omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, zinc, selenium and other brain boosters.”

    We will take a closer look at nutrients and brain composition and function.

     

    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

  • Nutrition: Creating a healthy thriving food environment

    The “WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health”adopted in 2004 by the World Health Assembly (WHA) called on all – including governments, the private sector, and the civil society – to take action at global, regional, and local levels to support healthy diets and physical activity.

    Recently I was watching the rain fall in Lagos.  I had to leave the work I was doing and step out of my office to watch it.  No, I am not a lay-about.  In fact, itwas on a very busy day.  I don’t know if I was thinking as a scientist, a poet, or a prophet, but I was thinking that rain is such a source of blessing.

    For some, with flooded homes, lost property, or disruption of life, that tropical rain of West Africa may have seemed like a curse or may have actually served a curse. For those who can study the rain and think a bit, it can be viewed as a source of economic wealth, as good as crude oil or minerals, if not more valuable.  It is not everywhere in the world that plants grow prolifically without anybody’s permission.  In fact, West Africans, with their ample rain, sunlight, and fertile soil,  should be amongst the best fed people in the world, with an undeniable potential for massive employment and entrepreneurships in the food and agriculture industries. Fortunately, many Africans in the private sector now see themselves as part of nation building and are not waiting for only the governments to create food and agricultural projects.  A lot can be done by the private sector and by the numerous graduates of 126 Nigerian universities, for example.

    The World Health Organization Fact Sheet No 394 of September 2014 suggests some steps to create a healthy food environment and these include:

    o             increase incentives for producers and retailers to grow, use and sell fruits and vegetables;

    • reduce incentives for the food industry to use saturated fats and free sugars;
    • set and enforce targets to reformulate food products to cut the contents of salt, fats (i.e. saturated fats and trans fats) and free sugars;
    • implement the WHO recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children;
    • establish standards to promote healthy, safe and affordable food in public institutions;
    • encourage private companies to provide healthy food in their workplaces;
    • set incentives and rules so consumers have healthy, safe and affordable food choices;
    • encourage transnational, national and local food services and catering outlets to improve the nutritional quality of their food, create real choices, and review portion size and price;
    • Consider taxes and subsidies to encourage food manufacturers to produce healthier food and make healthy products available and affordable.

    Farming and agriculture can be fun and fulfilling full time or part time jobs, hobbies, careers, or simply humanitarian services.  The field is a platform for scientific and technological applications, innovation and creativity, able to serve the aspirations and drives of many youthsand the potentially rich.

    Sunlight, rain, soil, – all these resources that are undervalued or that have been neglected for too long can be great servants of blessing for those who think.

    Harvesting, diverting, and utilizing rain water; soil and agricultural resource management and development, exploitation of solar power, are areas where many graduates can turn their knowledge into profit and at the same time help to create a good, healthy, thriving, food environment in Africa.

    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.