The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Herbal

  • Nigerian scientist charts fast-track for herbal diabetes treatment

    Nigerian scientist charts fast-track for herbal diabetes treatment

    By Dr. Oluwafemi Adeleke Ojo

    In a modest lab in Nigeria — powered more by passion than electricity — Dr. Oluwafemi Adeleke Ojo is forging a vital link between traditional healing and modern medicine. His mission: to transform indigenous herbs into safe, standardised, and effective treatments for diabetes, moving them from folklore to the pharmacy shelf.

    A senior researcher with the prestigious SYS-LIFE MSCA COFUND programme and a trained biochemist, Dr. Ojo has carved a unique space at the crossroads of metabolic disease, molecular pharmacology, and medicinal plant research. His work is deeply scientific yet grounded in everyday reality — tackling diseases like diabetes that are increasingly common across both urban centres and rural communities, where access to conventional medicine remains limited and often prohibitively expensive.

    In his most recent publication, “Bioprospection of indigenous herbal formulations for diabetes care: in vitro, network pharmacology, and molecular dynamics studies”, published in BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies (2025), Dr. Ojo and his team offer a groundbreaking model for drug discovery in Africa — one that respects tradition but demands evidence. What makes Dr. Ojo’s work stand out is its end-to-end pipeline — a reproducible, data-driven method that transforms age-old herbal recipes into scientifically validated therapies. The study begins by screening traditional multi-herb formulations for antidiabetic activity using enzyme and cell-based laboratory assays. From there, the researchers deploy network pharmacology, mapping how specific plant compounds may interact with key biological pathways involved in diabetes, including insulin signaling, carbohydrate metabolism, inflammation, and oxidative stress.

    But the real innovation lies in the final step: molecular dynamics simulations. These are atom-by-atom “stress tests” that mimic how each compound behaves inside the human body, predicting stability and binding strength with target proteins. The result? A prioritised list of compounds and combinations with the highest potential for success in real-world applications — exactly the kind of clarity needed by regulators, clinicians, and pharmaceutical developers.

    Read Also: Police arrest self-proclaimed “Obi of Lagos,” foil installation ceremony

    Nigeria is home to over 3 million adults living with diabetes, according to recent estimates. Yet many patients, especially in rural areas, rely on herbal treatments because modern antidiabetic drugs are either too expensive or unavailable. The danger lies in guesswork: uncertain dosages, unverified plants, and unknown interactions with other medications. Dr. Ojo’s framework eliminates that danger. It enables the standardisation of dosage, identification of bioactive marker compounds, and robust quality control. This approach not only enhances patient safety, but it also opens new doors for local economic development — from farmers cultivating verified plant species, to SMEs processing standardised extracts, to pharmacies dispensing labeled, regulated products.

    Despite earning international acclaim and publishing in some of the world’s leading scientific journals, Dr. Ojo faces the same structural challenges that continue to limit scientific progress in Nigeria. His work — spanning metabolic disease, pharmacology, and medicinal plant research — is cutting-edge, yet it is constrained by inadequate funding, unreliable infrastructure, and limited support for translating laboratory findings into real-world therapies. Dr. Ojo’s latest study offers a viable pathway from indigenous herbs to standardis ed diabetes treatments, but without systemic backing, innovations like his risk stalling in the lab. To break this cycle, he advocates for a national rethink on how Nigeria funds and supports translational research. From building better-equipped regional labs to establishing clear regulatory pathways for herbal-based therapies, he envisions a framework where scientific discovery can flow into clinical use without being obstructed by resource bottlenecks or bureaucratic gridlock.

    This vision includes dedicated funding to move promising herbal compounds from early-stage lab work into clinical trials, easing procurement issues that delay access to essential reagents and lab tools, and building stronger networks across teaching hospitals to run small but rigorous botanical trials. Equally crucial is ensuring that communities who supply raw plant materials benefit fairly — a critical element for ethical and sustainable development of indigenous medicines. But Dr. Ojo is also realistic: science alone can’t carry this burden. He sees industry not just as potential funders, but as collaborators who bring essential capabilities in manufacturing, quality control, and distribution. By working together, universities and businesses can co-develop natural products that are safe, standardized, and scalable. This means involving companies early in the research process — through milestone-based funding, shared infrastructure, and fellowships that embed academic researchers inside companies to solve practical development challenges.

    Such partnerships extend to the agricultural sector, where sourcing high-quality plant material is vital. Dr. Ojo proposes that Nigerian firms contract directly with farmers to cultivate authenticated species under good agricultural practices, ensuring supply chain integrity from field to pharmacy. Export readiness is another opportunity: when local products meet global standards, they don’t just serve local markets — they can compete internationally. Dr. Ojo’s model isn’t limited to diabetes. It offers a reproducible template for Africa’s broader engagement with biomedical innovation. By combining its rich biodiversity with indigenous knowledge and modern science, Nigeria can build a homegrown health economy — one that creates jobs, improves lives, and increases access to affordable care.

    But this will only happen if research is treated as a national priority. Nigeria must support interdisciplinary teams, establish national repositories, publish open-access datasets, and mandate clear pipelines for herbal product development — from efficacy to clinical readiness. “Every promising extract should pass the same process: efficacy, mechanism, safety, standardisation, then pilot trials,” Dr. Ojo explains. His work turns herbal medicine from guesswork into evidence. With the right support, Nigeria can transform that evidence into action — and lead the continent in unlocking the full potential of its natural and scientific wealth.

  • Don to Fed Govt: regulate herbal medicine sellers

    Don to Fed Govt: regulate herbal medicine sellers

    A Professor of Medical Biochemistry in the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), Joseph Olagunju, has urged the Federal Government to monitor and regulate the activities of herbal medicine sellers.

    He also said government should enforce laws on advertising of herbal medicine to protect citizens.

    Prof. Olagunju, who delivered the 92nd Inaugural Lecture of the institution titled ‘From Interferon to medicinal plants: The Adventure of a Biochemist’, warned the public on the adverse effects of herbal medicines despite having some curative properties.

    The don decried government’s inability to monitor activities of the sellers and advertisement of such products, lamented that the airwaves is full of misleading information about the efficacy of herbal remedies in treating all ailments without side effects.

    Read Also: Lagos Assembly confirms three Sanwo-Olu’s nominees

    Olagunju however said research has shown these natural products to contain high level of toxicity. “Hence, government needs to put necessary mechanisms in place to check their abuse,” he noted.

    The don also called for surveillance systems to monitor and evaluate adverse events arising from herbal therapies ‘which, for now, are either weak or non-existent’. 

    “There is the urgent need for government agencies charged with pharmacovigilance to effectively monitor safety of herbal products through research to identify the safest and most effective with tolerable side effects, and liaise with the appropriate agency of government to promote their rational usage,” he said.

  • How to boost herbal medicine, by Ooni, herbal society

    Herbal practitioners under the aegis of Herbal Therapy Society of Nigeria (HTSN) have visited Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi to explore ways to move the practice forward. OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA reports.

    They were dressed in white. They wore a camaraderie look, yet the message on their minds was serious – how to move herbal medicine forward, especially how to get funds to boost exports.

    Herbal Therapy Society of Nigeria (HTSN) members, numbering over 150, stormed the Ooni of Ile-Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi’s palace on how to ensure that herbal medicine practice was no longer impeded by regulations of Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), non-funding by the Federal Government, and non-availability of botanical gardens.

    As a custodian of tradition, the Society believed Oba Ogunwusi could influence political leaders in achieving  their goal.

    The society’s President, Dr Akintunde Ayeni, who led the members, told the monarch that Nigeria can gain if it taps into traditional herbal medicine development to the tune of $100billion.

    According to Ayeni, also the President/Founder, YEMKEM Group, a lot of misconceptions trailed traditional herbal medicine in the past due to the way our fore-fathers practised same, but, “when people like me came in, having inherited the knowledge from my father who got same from my grand-father, I decided to cause a paradigm shift in the society”.

    Ayeni said the practice was seen as  occultism where it was  believed that those in it must look, “horrible, weird, tattered and full of evil deeds. But having travelled wide and far, I know that the mindset was wrong. I was able to encapsulate herbal drugs, and produced liquid that can be stored for two years remaining potent without going bad if unopened, and got them listed with NAFDAC as well. That move caused a spontaneous acceptance across the country.

    “I am happy that the wind of change has started. The elite purchase and use those packaged products. If the Federal Government gives traditional herbal practice the same support it is giving orthodox medicine, and practitioners are able to package the finished products well, to international taste, the country will be better for it, people. This is because the herbs are available for people, and can be exported, instead of leaving the market for some foreign multi-level marketing companies.”

    He added that members were being harangued by regulatory agencies. What they are being compelled to abide with does not apply to these  marketing strategies.

    Ayeni asked: “Our billions in dollars are being fretted away to foreign countries, yet Nigeria boasts of the best organic plants worldwide. But with functional botanical gardens across the country, our herbal plants will not go into extinction”.

    Akintunde added that studies had shown that, “some herbal plants can only grow, survive and thrive in Nigeria due to favourable climatic conditions, organic soil and cultural milieu. The government should establish university for herbal medicine where interested people can go and enrol for training in the uses of these leaves, shrubs, herbal plants and roots, as is being done in Brazil, India, China and even Ghana. Hospitals in these countries have both orthodox and traditional medicines being practised in the same building, leaving the choice to patients.

    ‘’Nigeria can do this, and get real forex from it, if only the government can be committed to the development of indigenous traditional medicine. My effort got me here, but not too many of our members have good stories to tell because they are struggling. My success made some conclude that I took into cocaine carrying when I established Pathfinder Hotel from proceeds of my products due to proper packaging. The long and short of it is that investigations by relevant authorities vindicated me that I am not a cocaine courier.

    ’The late Sosobala Mbatha took the first step to own an airport in a small South African country town, had two private jets, completed the landing strip, next to his house, a modern-style marching band, and a very modern car. Yet, he was a traditional, but very successful South African herbal healer. He was a multi-billionaire. Mine is like peanuts to some of my herbal healer-friends in other countries. I am yet to have a private jet, and I will.”

    Oba Ogunwusi said he’d been hearing of YETKEM for a long time. “I can assure all that he is a credible man. I am here to resuscitate and concretise the almost lost or forgotten traditions and customs of the Yoruba race. I am ‘Babatunde’ (father has reincarnated). And there are three, two have gone and this the third and that is why I have returned to just do that.”

    Oba Ogunwusi said he was happy that members of the society  came from the 36 states to his palace. The monarch said: ‘’But I must be very frank with you, unity is the stronghold on which development thrives. Disunity cannot sustain anything in life. All of you need to ensure you have a common front and come together.”

    Oba Ogunwusi said the Yoruba race encapsulates the view of Olodumare (God) where creation took place in the garden of Eden. “That garden is Ogba Edena (garden of creation) and it also turned out to be garden of ideniyan (garden of bondage) as recorded in the two holy books. So, Yoruba race has the answer to the world’s problems, including ailments, diseases, conditions – both systemic and mental. This society must come together by bringing even disgruntled members, who have been deregistered from it back, and together we will move traditional medicine practice forward.”

    Oba Ogunwusi said there is a collaboration with Brazil, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and House of Oduduwa, Ile-Ife  (The Palace) on training in pharmacognosy and traditional herbal medicine and that it would be leveraged to inculcate further training for the members of the Society.

    “There are two representatives in training in Brazil because that country has twice the number of Yoruba more than the western part of Nigeria. We have traced the two origins back to Ile Ife. Once the Herbal Therapy Society gets its unity right, I will assist in sending its members to Europe and other advanced countries where traditional medicine is prioritised. I am happy that you all came here en-masse. I wish you well.”

    The Lagos Chairman of the association, Dr Adeniyi Idowu said the issues tabled by the national president should be addressed. “Because we are the ones at the receiving ends. We are  doing internal regulation by ensuring that our members comply with NAFDAC stipulations on production. Good manufacturing practice is our watchword. Standardised packaging is also being pursued, yet we are being victimised by these agencies,“  he said.

    Idowu, also Evergreen Herbs International Limited CEO, said: “We are looking at the bigger picture where herbal products will be first products of choice worldwide. We were not there when laws and guidelines were being put together to regulate us. We had no input. It is time to review these laws. Our products are being listed and not registered; none has gone through clinical trial. We are ready for these clinical trials. But there is no structure by any regulatory body to either engage us, or even carry it out. Ghana has gone far ahead of us. Traditional medicine is the next forex earner for Nigeria.

    “Unlike medical doctors, who cannot advertise their products, yet people will recognise hospitals and registered pharmacies, traditional herbal products manufacturers must create publicity. You see, Nigeria must not lag behind. We are ready as a society to move this sector forward by asking pharmacies, hospitals to use our NAFDAC-registered products even on patients, in hospitals, yet we are met with brick walls. Things cannot continue like that. The government can create herbal sections in hospital pharmacies and allow us to put our indigenous herbal products certified and listed by NAFDAC in those sections. That alone will boost the morale of herbal practitioners.

    “APCON is not allowing easy distribution by way of advertisement of these products. And because NBC is tying the rope on stations, advert rates on jingles are also sky-rocketing to the extent that to even recover invested money is a herculean task. Only the government can create the enabling environment.”

    The association enthroned Oba Ogunwusi as its patron.

  • Some herbal guardians of health in 2017 (7)

    When we go on a walk with Mother Nature in her wondrous healing gardens, we are never in want of remedies for all kinds of ailments. That is one of the lessons taught in those parts of this series on GLAUCOMA and CATARACTS of the eye lens. We set out, for example, on the healing effects of  Magnesium on such ailments as sleep disorders, muscle spasms and pain, brain fog and depression, constipation and indigestion and the likes of them, and we were to end up on the radiance of its healing rays on glaucoma and cataracts of the eye lens before moving on to some other healing remedies which made a positive impression on our health or ideas of health last year. The fact that Magnesium and other herbs or food supplements may help in the natural management of cataracts sparked enquiries about whether it is possible to resolve cataracts of the eye lens without ophthalmic surgery.

    Last week, we received two positive contributions. One was by Dr. Edward Kondrot, an ophthalmologist for 20 years, who says he no longer employs surgery to cure these cataracts except, perhaps, in extreme cases. Two incidents persuaded him to drop the knife. One was a growing body of scientific and medical knowledge which shows that more than half of the people who undergo cataract surgery may end up with macular degeneration, a cause of blindness. The second is the discovery from about 1978 that certain nutritional supplements used as eye drops may reverse cataracts.

    The second contribution came from a woman with eye problems which took her to many consultants. Medication after medication worsened her eye condition and devastated her health in many ways. But in only one month of being on Magnesium dietary supplementation, her health problems dramatically cleared. In the following feature, these possibilities are explored. Welcome, once again, to the thoughts of Dr. Kondrot, and the ideas of many researchers on this subject…

     

    Natural cures for eye cataract

    I promised to return to a natural cataract cure, based on the enquires of some challenged readers. There are some products in the Nigerian market. These include Cataract clear and Glutarakt. Listen again to Dr. Edward Kondrot: “The traditional treatment that Western ophthalmologists do is to remove cataract. They do not look at the underlying cause. They insert a plastic lens to take the place of natural human lens. You have been hearing all sorts of things about the danger of plastics. I think it could be a potential problem to plot a plastic device inside your eyes. Although rare, there are complications, infection, loss of vision, corneal swelling, glaucoma and, interestingly, an increased incidence of muscular degeneration. I am not totally against cataract surgery. In some situation, you should have cataract surgery where it is advanced to the point where it is obstructing your vision. In most cases, when the cataract is at the earlier stage, you should consider the alternative treatment I am going to talk about.

    “There is a published five-year study looking at the incident of macular degeneration in a group of people who had cataract and cataract surgery. The study demonstrated that there was a three fold increase in macular degeneration after cataract surgery. This statistic is shocking. Most eye doctors, including myself, at one time thought the person is just getting older. They are going to develop macular degeneration, anyway. This is false. You should take the steps to find out what is causing the cataract, and try to reverse it with more natural means. These are the three causes of cataract, and each one of these areas needs to be addressed. The first one is aging. The clock is ticking. There is not much we can do about that, but we can begin to change our lifestyle to help reduce the ill effects of aging.

    “A big area I want to talk about is nutrition. There is no question that cataract is linked to nutrition. The bottom one is HEAVY METALS. There is no question cataracts are related to LEAD. If you have elevated LEAD, you need to have this taken care of. These are some of the essentials to treat cataracts: Nutrition, proper hydration and reduced stress.

    “Physiologically, in the eyes when you develop a cataract, researchers have found that the ASCORBIC ACID and GLUTATHIONE levels in the AQUEOUS that surrounds the CATARACT becomes decreased. It makes sense if the elements are decreased that we need to replenish them in the body to help slow the progression of the cataract, or in some cases reverse it. GLUTATHIONE-containing foods: Spanish, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Parsley, Avocado, Asparagus, Grapefruit, Strawberries and Milk thistle.

    “These are some Glutathione-containing foods. Grandmother was right…more important are foods to avoid. White sugar is first on the list. Another is fructose … there is also sucrose and fruit juice concentrate. All are high in sugar, which help the cataract grow. Proper hydration is essential. If you do not drink enough water, these toxins will accumulate and cause adverse changes in your body. One of them is CATARACT…

    “There was a study done out of HARVARD UNIVERSITY that links low-level LEAD exposure to the development of CATARACT…there is no question all of us have been exposed to LEAD. When I was growing-up, we had leaded gasoline, leaded paints and leaded pencils. It is in our environment, water and food. I believe this is the biggest contributory factor to the development of CATARACT. We need to be tested for heavy metals. The only accurate way is a six-hour URINE PROVOCATIVE TEST. You could be dying of lead poisoning and your urine would be negative for lead…the lead goes into your bone, brain, eyes, muscles and fat…the best way to remove the lead is CHELATION THERAPY. Dr. Robert Rowen, the Editor of SECOND OPINION, stated that IVEDTA chelation a month can prevent cataract.

    “…I am interested in reversing the cataract and actually improving your vision. There are two prescription eye drops that can do this. The first one is OCLUMED. The second is an eye drop developed by Dr. Rowen. It is a mixture of DMSO, ASCORBIC ACID and GLUTATHIONE. Earlier, I commented that the Ascorbic Acids levels and Glutathione levels are reduced when you get a cataract, so it makes sense to have an eye drop like this …The Oclumed has a great combination of key ingredients to help reverse the cataract. One is L-carnosine, which immediately neutralises existing free radicals. N-Acetylene-Carnitine provides a long-term protection because it lasts longer in the cell. This eye drop also has Glutathione, which is one of the most important antioxidants in the lens. It also has CYSTEINE ASCORBATE, which is a water-stable source of Vitamin C and L-Cysteine, which are very important antioxidants. We need to get the Glutathione and Ascorbic acid, or Vitamin C in high concentration to reverse the cataract changes. L-Cysteine is use to regenerate or reduce the oxidised form of L-Glutathione in the eyes.”

    (For more information about the impact of glutathione on health, read the post in www.olufemikusa.com entitled CELLGEVITY, SENIOR CITIZENS AND THEIR PECULIAR CHALLENGES).

    Dr. Edward Kondrot mentions many more nutrients good for the eyes, and lays out some products he has developed and used to reverse cataracts in 20years of work in this field. Someday, we would return to him, given the high rate of cataract occurrence in Nigeria and the wish of challenged people to resolve their condition naturally.

     

    L-carnosine

    L-carnosine is “big” news to many people. But to scientists and workers in the medical field, it is not. L-carnosine, also called carnosine, is made by the body from two non-essential amino acids, ALANINE and HISTIDINE. Non-essential amino acids are produced by the body from ingredients in the diet, whereas we have to consume essential amino acids because the body cannot make them through transformation of one amino acid into another. Carnosine is an antioxidant amino acid with many health benefits in the body. The body can make lots of it if the diet provides Alanine and Histidine. As an antioxidant, carnosine helps to neutralise free radicals. These are molecules which damage cell membrane and DNA, the genetic code of the cells. Cells damaged by free radicals become weak or tired, are unable to function properly, may becomed diseased and even die prematurely.

    Our eyes are attacked everyday by free radicals, especially by the blue rays in the wavelength of the sunlight we require to see. Mother Nature is not unaware that this may happen and, so, has fortified the eyes with antioxidants to protect the eyes against free radicals. Among these antioxidants are Glutathione, the body’s master antioxidant, Vitamins A, C and E, Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA), Zinc, Magnesium, Selenium and, from the carotenoid family, Lutein, Zeazanthin and Astazanthin. The bioflavonoid family provides arsenal which include Rutin and Quercitin. There are also Ginkgo biloba and Bilberry. All these and more are present in the eyes. But, under stress or over exposure to free radicals or even poor nutrition, poor in the sense of antioxidant deficiency in the diet, the eye may not obtain enough antioxidants from the diet everyday, and gradually, unknown to us, become damaged by free radicals.

    Some medical studies have shown that L-carnosine improves nerve function, even in autism, and protects muscles.

     

    Cataract types

    There are three types of cataracts, generally speaking. Cortical or diabetic cataract begins in the periphery of the lens and grows inwards. Cataract in the middle of the lens is called Nuclear cataract. Sub capsular cataract are often found at the back of the lens and called posterior sub-capsular cataracts. They often affect diabetics, steriod ulcers, people challenged with retinitis pigmentosa and severely short-sighted people, that is people who can see very near objects but may not see beyond their “noses”, literally speaking. Symptoms may vary among the various types and the degree of challenge, but they all tend to exhibit cloudness of vision and sensitivity to light. Retinitis pigmentosa is characterised partly by swelling of blood vessels in the retina which may leak into it and/or growth of new blood vessels in the retina.

     

    Carnosine therapy

    Carnosine abounds not only in skeletal and nerve tissue but also in the lens of the eyes, where there is still no evidence of its production. Thus, it is still assumed that carnosine is produced elsewhere in the body and transported to the eye lens. This is not the end of the story. In the eye lens, as elsewhere in the body, Carnosine is degraded by an enzyme named Carnosinase into Histidin and Alanine. Carnosinase is resident in the lens. As carnosine is not in the lens for decoration purposes, and as it is being degraded by Carnosinase, and as low levels of Carnosine would appear to be present in cataract of the lens, researchers began to think of ways to pump more to carnosine into the lens. N-Acetyl Carnosine (NAC) provided an answer in NAC eye drops. NAC was found to be a precursor of Carnosine in the eye. When it is dropped into the eye, NAC is protected against Carnosine degradation and safely delivers L-carnosine into the lens to do battle with cataract.

    The battle is with an army of chemical substances which, individually, in combinations or as a group can obstruct proper vision in what is known as cataract. Just to name a few, there are Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs), peroxides and Aldehydes among others. ROS are “singlet” oxygen free radicals. We all know that we need oxygen to live. This oxygen has two molecules (O2). When it is used for our living processes, such as the production of energy, it produces a waste know as singlet oxygen (O), or ROS. This waste attacks the membranes of cells to steal electrons from them in other to stabilise itself as O2. The attack put holes in cells through which there contents links out and through which they may become infected and damaged. AGEs are produced when excess blood sugar, as in diabetes, damages fat and protein molecules. Hydrogen Peroxide damages fats in the cell membrane. The damage they cause disperse light rays and inhibit healthy vision.

    In 1978, Allen Babizhayeb and his colleagues told the world that L-carnosine could reduce lipid peroxides within the lens. Many studies have confirmed the hypothesis. Indirectly, L-carnosine activity also reduces or blocks conversion of the gelataneous protein fluid in the lens sac to a stony substance, which prevents light travel to the retina.

    Many studies have found, also, that in cataract formation, there are depletions of enzymes such as Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Catalase. SOD destroys the superoxide, a major poison to the cells, by breaking it down into hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and oxygen (O2). There are about three lines of SOD. These may be formed from with Zinc and Copper or from Manganese or from Iron or from Selenium. Each line protects a different part of the cell. Thus, SOD defence for the cytoplasm is different from SOD defence for the cell nucleus and from SOD defence for the mitochondria, where energy is produced. Thus, again, a deficiency of a particular SOD ingredient may expose to danger the area that ingredient is expected to help protect. SOD, formed from Zinc, inhibit ROS. Catalase inhibits hydrogen peroxide. One molecule of catalase may destroy millions of hydrogen peroxide molecules in one second. Naturally, the nuclear area of the lens depends on the diffusion of Glutathione, the master antioxidant, from the cortical region of the eye. But aging is said to slow the diffusion rate, exposing this region and the nuclear region to harm.

    L-carnosine is credited, also, with vanquishing ROS forces as well as neutralising AGEs. In addition, L-carnosine is reported to chelate heavy metals from the eye, thereby preventing them from wreaking damage. As an anti-oxidant, it swallows up excess blood sugar which causes glacation (damage) of fat and protein molecules in the eye. L-carnosine also prevents protein molecules from cross linking and forming that stony material in the lens known as cataract. Interestingly, L-carnosine has been shown to dissolve this formation. Even in laboratory rats induced to develop cataract of the lens, L-carnosine eye drops slowly dissolved the stone, the cataract, in the first eight weeks, followed by a more aggressive action in the next five weeks.

    Dogs featured in some of the controlled experiments. In one such study, 30 dogs of various breed challenged with lens cataracts were treated with a combination proprietary product, as L-carnosine is said to work better when combined with other antioxidants. The proprietary combination administered in this experiment comprised two percent NAC, Glutathione, Vitamin C, Cysteine, L-Taurine and Vitamin B1 (thiamine). The blend came from OCLUVET of Arizona. The eyes of the 30 dogs were checked. Some had mature cataracts, some immature cataracts, some cataracts and eye inflammation and nuclear sclerosis. Improvement were significant in the immature cataracts and nuclear sclerosis groups. About 80 percent of the dogs recorded improvements.

    In a human study involving 49 subjects challenged with senile cataracts, 76 eyes were affected. Of the 76 eyes, 41 eye were administered one percent NAC eye drops two times a day. Eighteen patients (21 eyes) formed one control group. They received eye drops of all ingredients except NAC. There was an untreated group of 10 patients (14 eyes) who received no eye drops.

    Six months after, 90 percent of patients in the treated group were seeing better than before the experiment. About 89 percent improved on glare sensitivity. At 24 months, no members of this group suffered any vision decline. Generally, there was a decline in the control groups. In other human trials, there were significant statistical improvements. These were attributed to the attributes of NAC as an antioxidant, anti-glare agent, heavy metals chelator, Aldehyde scavenger, Carbonyl scavenger, producer of Nutric Oxide (NO) etc. I would like to suggest that, while NAC may be given a try, everyone challenged with one vision disorder or another should not forget to fill the medicine cabinet with some, if not all and even more of the following.. ‘.. .Zinc, Vitamin A, Vitamin B-complex, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Bilberry, Magnesium, Taurine, Lutein and Zeazanthin, DTA, Cellegevity, Noni, Grape Seed Extract, Lion’s Mane Mushroom, CoQ10, tissue or cell salts, and greens such as liquid chlorophyll, Spirulina, Kale, Chlorella for chelating heavy metals, Asparagus, Red Kidney Bean pod tea (for lowering blood sugar). Spirulina and Kale provide alk the amino acids, including HISTIDINE and ALANINE from which the body manufactures Carnosine.

  • Some herbal guardians of health in 2017 (1)

    The year just gone by, 2017, was an exciting one. By exciting I mean that many readers of this column in need of help for their health received many opportunities to do so. Thanks to all those researchers and doctors worldwide who kept sharing with us the knowledge of natural healing foods and medicines which the Almighty Creator permitted them to learn from Mother Nature. This column is, therefore, an expression of gratitude to the Creator and to these fine human spirits through brief reminders of some of those healing herbs and foods we were privileged to learn about last year.

     

    Apple Cider Vinegar

    I give the first slot to this wonderful herbal medicine not because, in nursery rhyme, A stands for Apple. A woman I have known for about 25 years died last Saturday from bleeding after surgery. I wondered if she could not have lived if she took Apple Cider Vinegar for four or six weeks before the surgery. Immediately I heard the story, many cases of bleeding helped by ACV, as Apple Cider Vinegar is also called, flooded my thoughts. One was a dutiful reporter in The Guardian newspaper newsroom of the 1980s. She returned late to the newsroom one day, well beyond the deadline for her report. Deadline breaches are grave sins in the newsroom. A breach may delay the printing time and cause such print-run shortages as may cost the company millions of Naira on the news-stands. I gave her a typical dress-down of an angry editor. She cried and cried. At about 9p.m, she came to my office to apologise with explanations which made me feel small inwardly. She had been bleeding vaginally for one week and had only managed to be coming to work. That day, she fainted in the taxi she boarded to the office and had to be revived in hospital. As she was still bleeding, I asked her to go next day to Pa JOHNSON’S Health shop on Olonode Street in Yaba, Lagos, and purchase ACV. Another health shop which sold it in Lagos at that time was at 118 Ogunlana Drive, Surelere. Within one week, the bleeding stopped for all time. For ACV miraculously stops bleeding.

    Another case I remembered was that of a boss of mine who had to have surgery for Inguinal hernia. This is a condition in which the intestine enters the scrotal sac through a weakness in abdominal architecture, sometimes causing swelling and pain in the testes. The surgeon had thought my boss would bleed and had readied blood for transfusion. But having been on ACV therapy for six weeks prior to the surgery, he did not.

    Yet another case was a mother who had her uterus evacuated because of large growths of uterine fibriods which caused vaginal bleeding. She had become so pale and weak that blood for transfusion was arranged before surgery. But she did not bleed. In my wife’s child-bearing years, she always took ACV in the last month before labour. While other women bled in the labour room, she did not. I learned about ACV from a pocket book of the benefits of this wonderful gift of Nature written by Cyril Scott. ACV, according to him, is good for the hair, scalp, eyes, sinuses, gums and teeth, skin, bones, nail, blood, digestion and flatulence, among other benefits. He says they contain Phosphate salts, the lack of which may cause eye and brain discomfort, among other health slacks. ACV is known to aid weight management, reduce acid reflux, high blood pressure. It reduces high blood sugar and high blood cholesterol levels. ACV fights allergies, balances the blood pH, relieves cold symptoms, helps detoxification et.c. The brand I recommend, which I have away used, is that branded BRAGGS WITH MOTHER.

     

    Red Kidney Bean Pod

    This remedy was mentioned in this column many times last year. It has a reputation for reducing high blood sugar, weight loss, promoting urination and removing dropsy or edema, whether it be of heart or kidney origins. It is claimed, also, that this pod helps conditions of kidney Stones and Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs).

    More about this herb later.

     

    Bone Marrow Meal

    Some readers were confused about the differences between bone meal and bone marrow meal. Bone meal is high-grade animal bone (preferably grass-fed) crushed to powder for its Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Protein in particular and fed to cows to prevent Mad Cow Disease. Its use as a human food supplement for calcium and other minerals became unpopular because of possible lead contamination. Bone Marrow Meal, on the other hand, is the soft tissue content in the bone hollow, sometimes, with some purified bone meal. This column recommended it to chemotherapy patients with bone marrow damage and other challenges. The experience of  Swedish doctor (Mrs) Astrid Brohult provided the spur for this. In about 1952, she worked in an hospital leukemia (blood cancer) ward for children who suffered from bone marrow cancer. Chemotherapy devastated them all the more. But when Dr. Brohult added bone marrow to their meals, the children dramatically recovered. She and her husband, a biochemist, were to discover two important components in bone marrow meal which may have accounted for such recoveries…Alkylglycerol and Squalene. Modern studies reveal that the bone marrow exhibits large amounts of Vitamin A, Collagen, Iron, Omega-3 fatty acids, minerals and Vitamins, Proteins. Chemotherapy destroys them in addition to damaging the capacity of the bone marrow to produce red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelet cells. This is one of the reasons chemotherapy patients are weak, suffer from excruciating pain with because of their reduced oxygen content, suffer from illnesses and bleed.

    There is no doubt that a supply of these ingredients in bone marrow meal can jump start a weakened system back to life. Bone marrow meal has been found to promote digestion, repair damaged body cells, protect the health of the heart and the blood vessels, support joint mobility and protect them, support the production of white blood cells, maintain health of the skeletal system, boost immunity, fight cancer, increase the body’s metabolic rate and detoxification process. Thus, bone marrow meal is good not only for cancer-challenged people but for everyone as well.

     

    Cellgevity

    Already with us for about two years now, this food supplement blossomed last year amid claims that it had helped some people throw off some serious health yokes. It attracted two articles in this column titled CELLGEVITY, SENIOR CITIZENS AND THEIR HEALTH CHALLENGES (1) and (2). The Cellgevity story is all about a landmark food supplement which enables the body to make more energy and an abundance of the body’s master antioxidant, Glutathione, which Nature puts in human, animal and plant tissues to ward off disease. It is made from three amino acids…Glycine, Glutamin and Cysteine. Cysteine is, arguably, the most crucial. Stomach acids transform it and, so, not enough of it gets to the cells for the manufacture of Glutathione. Meanwhile, drugs such as Paracetamol and Panadol deplete the body’s stocks of Glutathione and cause Cysteine to be excreted in the urine. Efforts to load more Cysteine into the system have until now been compromised by stomach acid inhospitality, stress, fatigue, toxins, liver weakness and other factors. Then, after several years of research, CELLGEVITY arrived on the scene in the United States with a technology which protects Cysteine from stomach acid and delivers it safe and sound to the cells to make Glutathione and energy.

    More information is available in www.olufemikusa.com.

     

    Libido aids

    These days, I listen to late night news on radio before I knock off for the night. The news comes on just after or before relationship programmes. One of these is EDUN OKAN (d:d r:d) (HEART PAIN), a raw Yoruba programme by FAAJI FM Radio. It is presented by a harsh, if not brutal, unsparing and sometimes rude man. In one of the last ones I listened to, one man called in on the phone to complain that his wife who was breast feeding a four-month old baby by him was “sleeping” with a youth in their multiple-room residence (face-me-I-face-you) residence who was infected with tuberculosis. The complainant said he appealed to the boy to no avail and gave up. Happily, he said, the chap soon died of his tuberculosis. He wanted the programme to help him appeal to his wife that, now that her lover was dead, she should remain faithful to him. What sort of man is this, I wondered. But before I could call JACK ROBINSON, many calls poured in, either castigating him for being a she-man or advising him to do something about his manliness. The presenter literally dragged him in the mud and asked if his wife was around and listening to the programme. To my surprise, she was right beside him in bed, awake and listening! The presenter literally took her to the cleaners, calling her a disgrace to womanhood and asking her to go on her knees before her husband and plead for forgiveness. She agreed to do so! The comments of other people were not lost on me…this must be why many men today seek sex libido enhancers!

    In my days as a young man, PASUMA STRONG was the in-thing among men. It also went by the name PASUMA FORTE. Today we have such male aphrodisiacs as LIBIDO TONIGHT, LIBIDO MAX, STEEL LIBIDO, ROBUST ROOTS, AFRICAN BLACK ANT and EROXYL FOR MEN, to mention a few of the ones which appeared in this column as aids for underactive men last year.

    The list was incomplete without such other food supplements as Zinc, L-Arginine, Macca, and CoQ10, to mention a few.

    These remedies are either quick-acting, slow working or a combination of both. They aid the production of male hormones, stimulate nerve response, support blood delivery to the penile shaft, and turgidity and staying power. Some men require detoxification in the nerve junction (Frankenhauser’s) in the pubis region which controls erection and all that. Chlorella and Cilantro may help out in such a case. For other men, too much stress has weakened their adrenal glands, causing adrenal burn-out in some cases. The stress need not be physical. It could be oxidative, in which antioxidants are needed, heavy metal toxicity in which case heavy metal chelators are called for. Sometimes, bacteria, viruses, fungi, yeast, even mold, may be at work. This would call for antibacterials such as Amazon C-F, antifungals such as Amazon A-F, antivirals such as Amazon A-V and a broad-spectrum fighter such as GOLDEN SEAL ROOT and MANGO SEED EXTRACT. All of them were mentioned in this column last year either for this condition or others. To cap the stress therapy, it was suggested that nutrition which supports adrenal recovery be adopted. Borage Oil and Licorice and Ginseng and adaptogens were suggested.

     

    Wheatgrass

    It still holds the prospect of being a great alkalinising agent and healer, long, long after Dr. Anne Wigmore popularised it. For an alkalinising and mineralising agent is crucial in many of today’s degenerative diseases which research suggest have their origins in over-acidity of the body through diet, environmental, negative emotions and stress of all sorts, among others. As a child, Anne watched her grandfather heal the “injuries of World War II soldiers with wheatgrass grass juice”. As an adult, Anne developed gangrene in one lower limb. Doctors advised amputation. Anne objected. Gangrene is dead tissue that spreads. Death of cells and tissue occurs when they do not receive enough oxygen through blood circulation due to one problem or another. Anne watched her condition grow worse. But she remained adamant. No one would remove any part of her body. She would spend the evenings in the wheel chair in her garden. She began to observe sick cats which came to the garden to eat a particular grass. Soon, they would get well. She, too, began to eat this grass. This grass was wheatgrass. Anne regained health and life in her dying limb when she began to eat wheatgrass and take wheatgrass juice, as some accounts have said, fanatically. Dr. Anne Wigmore died at the age of 85, not from gangrene or any other ailment, but from suffocating smoke in a fire which engulfed her clinic. She left behind a legacy of wheatgrass as a supportive herb in health and illness.

     

    Lion’s Mane Mushroom

    I do not know if Dr. Rita Levi Montalcini is still alive. The last time I followed her work, she was 103, reading, writing and making speeches. As a young Italian doctor during World War II, she sought to discover which herb in the plant kingdom could heal damaging or mangled nerves. Her laboratory was her bedroom. She moved from one house to another during the bombings. Eventually she discovered Lion’s Mane Mushroom to be best suited for the job. And she won a Nobel Prize for it.

    Lion’s Mane Mushroom supports the brain to produce Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) or Nerve Growth Hormone (NGH) which not only protects the myelin shealth of the nerves. Picture to yourself the electrical wiring in your house. Electricity is conducted by the thin copper wires that are insulated with a plastic covering. That, too, is the configuration of the nerves. The nerves conduct plant and impulses throughout the body and are protected by a myelin shealth as covering. If anything goes wrong with this shealth, the nerves are exposed and may be endangered. People who have holes in a tooth or more know how it hurts when the nerves in the pulp are exposed and come in contact with food, water or germs. Sometimes, the pain is such that affected people will death. Modern researches have expanded the scope of Dr. Montalcini’s work. Now, it is known that Lion’s Mane Mushroom is helpful not only in all neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, seizures, tremours, Restless Leg Syndrome, premature ejaculation and urinary incontinence, among many nerve-related conditions, but helpful as well for such conditions as digestion difficulties, immune response and even cancer.

    Some people do not easily recognise that they have nerve challenges. One of my friends knew of his only when he had to share a hymn book with another worshipper during a church service and he discovered that his hand was shaking. Another could not insert a key into the key hole of a car door or house door without the support of the other hand. There are people, men and women, who let go before they arrive in the urinal. And when the vision begins to blur, it may be time to check if the pressure of glaucoma may not have caused nerve damaged or mangling in the eye. In nerve conditions, Lion’s Mane Mushroom goes well with Vitamin B1 and the B-complex family.

     

    Orange peel

    As I do not mind bitter principles in my diet, I go for the gentle bitter of Orange peel in almost every home cooked meal. Outdoor, I add the factory-made orange peel powder to meals such as rice, beans or pap or yam porridge. I like bitter principles in food because I learned long ago from the Yoruba proverb that “Ore enu l’ota inu” (friend of the mouth is enemy of health within), referring to the sweet principles whereas “ota enu l’ore inu” (enemy of the mouth is friend of health within). Thus, when I feel like having a meal of eba and egusi (melon) soup, for example, and I do not have Orange peel powder, I parboil Orange peel and turn the garri for eba in the water extract of the peel. I do not throw the peel away. I shred it into the egusi soup. I add Orange peel to rice or beans when it is half boiled. This way, I have been able to curb the tendency of my random blood sugar to shoot to about 150, and bring it down to under 120. For orange peel has anti diabetes principles apart from being anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial, nutritive, anti-asthma and, a lungs cleanser and a cough remedy. In articles posted on www.olufemikusa.com, which features these herbs, I mentioned how orange peel powder brought down by 150 points in one week a woman’s 500 plus blood sugar count and how, eating the peel over meals, resolved some cases of bronchitis.

  • Reps to meet NAFDAC on herbal products registration

    Reps to meet NAFDAC on herbal products registration

    The House Committee on Health has assured traditional medicine practitioners across the country that it will address the problems with  local medicines registration.

    The Committee members made the promise during their oversight function visit to the Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) in Lagos.

    The committee said it would meet with the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) officials to  address the problem.

    The  House Committee on Health Chairman, Hon Beni Lar, said though it was not part of its work of the House to oversee NAFDAC,   based on the complaints by many agencies and practitioners of traditional medicine, who briefed the  members, the Committee would do assist.

    Mrs Lar said: “We all know that NAFDAC is set up and regulated by an Act and it has a Board, likewise a Committee in the House that oversees its activities. We, as Honourable members, will like to engage our colleagues that oversee NAFDAC to see how we can have a roundtable discussion to iron out some of these issues on registration of traditional medicines across the country.

    “We will want to aggregate ideas, observations and solutions across board to remove the bottle necks so that Nigerian indigenous traditional medicinal products can be easily registered by NAFDAC at affordable cost and for easy marketing, even to the point of exporting to improve on FOREX. All should know that we are legislature and not executive arm of government.”

    Mrs Lar continued: “We will beam the searchlight on NAFDAC to see what it is doing wrong in traditional medicine registration to the point of its being reputed for being slow and painstakingly difficult which lead to the demoralising the innovation of producers of indigenous traditional herbal medicines.

    “It is in the pipeline of this committee to invite all the agencies under the Ministry of Science and Technology to a meeting with NAFDAC representatives to find a solution. We will appreciate if all these agencies under Ministry of Science and Technology put in writing all their observations and hindrances to registration of their products with NAFDAC and we will be able to engage the right people on it, so we do not have these issues again.’’

    She said since NNMDA was established in 1997 to enable the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology  to promote the natural medicine, it was gladdening that it had fulfilled some of the roles.

    “You’ve produced some of the best products as answers to identified communicable diseases, and some of these products are awaiting NAFDAC registration, we can’t wait to see that as a recorded success because part of the reasons for this agency’s existence is promotion of natural medicine- traditional/indigenous healthcare systems, medications and non-medications healing arts, science and technology and assist facilitate their integration into the national healthcare delivery system, as well as contribute to the nation’s wealth and job creation, social-economic growth and development effort,” she said.

    Also, she said money generated from the sales of those products would be ploughed into NNMDA.

    On the entourage of the committee are Hon Kehinde Agboola, Hon Ibrahim A. Isiaka, Hon Azodo Eucharia; Clerk, Michael Egwu and his assistant, Chukwuemeka Ejimonye and Nanre Fashep.

    NNMDA Director-General, Samuel Etatuvie, said funding and understaffing, especially of experts and researchers were the major challenges facing the agency.

    Etatuvie said: “We have done so much with little resources, including installing driers, production machines and refurbishing of the buildings where we work. We need more human resources to be on the field because our work involves research. We have submitted the list of our requirements and employment recommendations to the parent body – Ministry of Science and Technology and awaiting further directives.

    “The agency can do more with adequate funding. There are capital projects embarked on and part of them is NAFDAC registration. We are already at the final stages. Once we get the Registration Numbers that will make them to be commercially viable and we will roll them into the market.’’

    Etatuvie said his agency had documented a lot of compendia on medicinal plants  with support from Raw material Research and Development Council (RMRDC).

    “We do not want indigenous herbal healing prowess of our forefathers to go into extinction. We know generations yet unborn will tap into these compendia and make this country proud. We have published research works and findings and we are not resting on our oars. We have herbarium and data base farm and also digital library. We have a prototype solar dryer designed, constructed and installed at Jesse farm in Delta State,” Etatuvie said.

    He said to fulfill the vision of  the institute, its “funding should be improved on; likewise to get more capable hands for the agency’’.

    He identified some of the research products of the agency awaiting NAFDAC nod to include Naturedmed tonic tea based on the traditional knowledge on Nigerian Hibiscus sabdariffa as a relaxant and blood pressure reducer; improved samples of mosquito repellant; Naturemed herbal arthritis designed as topical application to assist manages arthritis; and Naturedmed medicated soap, a bath soap to assist manage topical ailments, such as scabies, fungal infections and opportunistic skin infections of HIV.

    “We are proud to be part of the solution to the 85 percent of people in Sub-Sahara Africa who depend on traditional medicine not only for healthcare delivery but also for – psychological, socio-economic and cultural, and community issues. For most of these people, traditional medicine is the only source of health care delivery known and available, accessible and affordable.

    “For all the revolutionary and dramatic improvements in human health care in the 21st Century, life in much of Africa begins and is sustained with the support of traditional medicine. In many parts of Africa, the number of traditional health practitioners far outnumber that of allopathic doctors – medical doctors is 1: 20,000 and traditional practitioners is 1: 200, according to the National Demographic and health Survey Report,” Etatuvie said.

    The DG conducted the visiting Committee round the agency’s premises, showing them some  critical equipment, such as rotary evaporator, stainless blender, rotary extractor, UV-Visible photospectrometre, PH metre, heater with Strirrer, and Atomic absorption Spectrophotometre.

    There was also digital herb scanner with printer, which Etatuvie explained, were tools for  medicinal plant identification and taxonomy for teaching, research, documentation, conservation, cultivation, and entrepreneurship development in the promotion of natural medicine and products.

  • Kampe herbal drink unveiled

    Kampe herbal drink unveiled

    Ruzu Natural Health Product and Services has introduced a herbal drink into the market.

    Its Chief Executive Officer, Robert Uzu said indigenous roots, especially Aloe Vera, were combined to formulate the drink.

    He told The Nation that the vision came as a result of genuine intention to save lives and contribute to the economic growth of the nation and Africa.

    “Kampe herbal drink takes care of various health conditions, such as oxidative threat, weakness or lack of strength, and menstruation abnormalities. It also takes care of sexual distraction, or quick ejaculation in men as well as arthritis and rheumatism among others,” he said.

    On what inspired him into producing the drink, he said: “In the course of trying to answer questions why health conditions such as diabetes, HIV, High blood pressures among others have no cure yet; I got inspired to delve into herbal medicine. I have always wanted to change lives. I have always wanted to make a mark. I have always wanted to contribute my own quota to the development of this great nation, that is actually what drives me to come out with one of the finest herbal drinks because I have seen that most of the drinks we have in Nigeria today are not up to my satisfaction, hence I have to come out with this Kampe herbal drink.

    “I started researching on herbal medicine about ten years ago. I then went for a Diploma in Alternative Medicine; right now I am studying for a degree in Medicine and alternative medicine at the University of India.”

    He expressed confidence in the quality of the product: “when we started we knew that we would have competitors, but we don’t believe in competition. We are simply showcasing our indigenous herbal plants and roots, as in our own- what we have as a country. People will accept who we are, what we are able to offer to them in the course of time. Ours is highly indigenous. The first of its type. The company is positioned to provide answers for the health needs of the people.

    “The moment you take this herbal drink, naturally, you will come back, and you will help to tell others of the amazing product, and from there we will break into the market, so we have no fear breaking into the market.”

    He said the product has been registered with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

    Managing Director, 25th March Limited and Marketing Consultant for the herbal product, Chuks Enwelem, said the potency of the product is very high, adding that the high level of efficacy of the product we will not be compromised, “We want to make sure that its potency is maintained so that it will continue to attract more consumers.  It is something the body can assimilate easily.”

  • NAFDAC, others enlighten on herbal products

    NAFDAC, others enlighten on herbal products

    As early as 8am, 1 Adekunle Fajuyi Road, G.R.A, Ikeja  turned to a beehive of activities. Members of Herbal Medicine Advertisers Association of Nigeria (HMAAN) gathered to update themselves on how to improve on the promotion of indigenous herbal medicines.

    At the forum  were representatives of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Nigeria Broadcasting organisation (NBC), Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, (AAAN), and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON). The goal was to ensure that practitioners act within the limit of the law, while advancing herbal traditional medicine products.

    HMAAN Secretary Odukoya Sarafa said the association is in place to let the public know that the products being advertised by them are very reliable which can be taken by people, and NAFDAC is in support.

    Odukoya said herbal medicine is a big industry especially in Europe and Asia and wondered why it is not so in Nigeria despite, “having skillful practitioners who provide affordable health care to our fellow citizens and foreigners. But we all know that without publicising or advertising our products and services it is like someone blinking in the dark.”

    He said: “We don’t want to be in the dark blinking, that is why we are here. Neither do we want to deprive innocent people of alternative and affordable health care services. The team policing accurate standardisation of herbal production and adverting without deceit are with us. Those formulating laws and regulating our activities to meet with international standards will enlighten us to get to that standard stage. With these resourceful participants, I am sure intimidating heights will be surmounted today.”

    Director, Nigeria Broadcasting Code (NBC), Lagos Zone Matthew Okodua advised the herbal practitioners on what to advertise and what not to advertise.  He said if they want their products to go on air,  they must make sure their products are well packaged, adequately labeled, registered with NAFDAC.

    “It does not stop at that, you must obtain NAFDAC’s permit from their office,” he said.

    Okodua said NAFDAC is not out to victimise or witch hunt because similar guidelines given to practitioners by NAFDAC are extended to orthodox medical practitioners.

    “So, as a practitioner, if you have any issue with NAFDAC go to its office. The agency runs an open door policy and is open for you to consult and the officials will be glad to listen to you.”

    Assistant Director, Advertisement Control, Registration and Regulatory Affairs Directorate NAFDAC, Olugbenga Aina said herbal business has the capacity to generate a large revenue, including FOREX for the country and there are some hidden treasure that Nigeria has but yet untapped into, “and this is one that we can diversified into but we have to do it properly.

    “The agency I work for – NAFDAC is very friendly. Processing of Listing for product and for advertisement is easy, and open to all. You can easily get your product registered if you follow the laid out procedure because NAFDAC recognises that herbal medicines and related products are finished medicinal products containing plant and/or their presentation presented with therapeutic or prophylactic claim and include all preparations containing a plant material in part or wholly.

    “For you to advertise your product, there are two basic things you need to get: One, your product must be registered by NAFDAC and after that, you need permit to advertise your product. The permit is what you will take to the advertising house. That will ensure your product can be advertised and be introduced to the general public. The success of these products can follow.”

    Aina said there is sanction for those who refuse to get their products registered and obtain  permit.

    “There is an Advertisement Control Division is a Division in the Registration and Regulatory Affairs Directorate. The Division regulates and controls advertisements via: Issuance of advertisement permits. Monitoring of advertisement in the media to:  One is to ensure compliance with approved advertisement materials such as: artworks, storyboards and scripts, and mete appropriate sanctions where there are deviations from approved advertisement materials. Two, to capture and issue out appropriate sanctions for all unauthorised advertisement of regulated products Once they advertised their product without getting it registered there is a internal arrangement on how to clamp down on that product,” said Aina.

    He went on: “And if you succeed in getting those two things –registration and permit, please do not exaggerate the potency of efficacy of such product. We are dissuading you from telling the public that your single product can cure everything (gbogbonise). NAFDAC is here to monitor the products. NAFDAC here is to protect the public from you giving them what it is not safe. It will safeguard the nation, and that is paramount to the agency. We at NAFDAC are making sure you are not giving public wrong herbal products. We frown at you claiming superiority over the other. Avoid words such as- my product is magic or miracle, this is not accepted by NAFDAC at all,” said Aina.

    He assured the herbal practitioners that NAFDAC is there to work with them to make their herbal business grow.

    “Know that NAFDAC recognises the power of advertisement that it has the capacity to influence public perception and understanding of a company and/or its products. Influences rate of distribution, purchase and consumption of a product. Advertisements of products and other regulated products influence health related issues which can either complement or jeopardise national health policy goals. Journal adverts had been found to successfully lead to increase in sales and prescribing by physicians.”

    He said in this light, NAFDAC’s primary objective to protect and promote public health through the performance of statutory regulatory and control functions and activities on regulated products ensure that good quality and effective Herbal medicines and other regulated products get to the market quickly as well as possible while keeping unproven and dangerous drugs off . It ensures Advertising is true and not misleading or containing any exaggerated claims, either directly or indirectly or implied. All advertising must be in line with summary of products characteristics and marketing authorisation.

    He said: “No person shall advertise any herbal medicine and related product unless it has been registered and the advertisement given pre-clearance and approval by NAFDAC. No advertisement for any herbal. Vague, unsubstantiated statements or suggestions of superiority over other competing herbal medicines or related products; Any false impression that the advertised herbal medicine or related product is for universal cure or should be regarded as a more effective and safer alternative to other herbal medicine or related  products in the same category. No herbal medicine or related product advertisement shall contain such words as ‘magic’, ‘miracle’, or an exotic description such as ‘upper potency’ or such words as to induce daily or continuous use of the product.

    “No advertisement for herbal medicines or related product shall state or imply in absolute terms or by quotation out of context that any herbal medicine or related product is “safe” or has “guaranteed efficacy. Any statement claiming or implying a superlative function such as “most effective”, “least toxic”, “best tolerated” or other special status “herbal medicine” or “related product of choice” etc shall not be used. The approval of any advert shall be valid for a period of one year beginning from the date of approval. Promotional advertisements are not allowed for Drug Products, Herbal Medicine and related Products. Advertisement of a Herbal Medicine or related products as a treatment, prevention or cure for any disease, disorder or abnormal physical state as specified in the schedule of the regulation is not allowed,” said Aina.

    Aina then put them the nitty-gritty required for obtaining the product registration for advertisement permit: “The agency’s guidelines for advertisement of regulated products ensure that only registered products are advertised. Approved Adverts are valid for one year. Consumer promotions are valid for maximum of 15 weeks. Consumer promotion is not allowed for Herbal and Drug Products. Prescription Only Medicines (POM’s) shall be advertised only in medical/scientific journals. Documentation requirements must be met.

    He said all payments should be made into TSA as (Internally Generated Revenue) IGR accruing to NAFDAC. Application form per product is N250.

    “Documentation required are simple- Application letter to Ag. DG (for Administrative Approval) or DD/AC (R&R) (for Normal Approval). Completion of Application Form- Evidence of Product Registration. Letter of Introduction of Advert Agent from the Applicant where applicable. Advertisement materials (scripts, storyboard, artworks. Submission of recorded messages in CD after approval and before airing. Product must be as registered by the Agency. Claim substantiation documents -Herbal Products must carry the Disclaimer- ‘These claims have not been evaluated by NAFDAC.”

     

     

     

  • Traditional/herbal solution for family planning

    Traditional/herbal solution for family planning

    Managing Director, Health Forever Product Limited, Lagos Otunba Olajuwon Okubena writes on this.

    I am delighted to submit my ideas on the issue of how Traditional or Herbal medication could be of tremendous relevance to the problem of family planning in Nigeria and also contribute to its potential for earning foreign exchange.

    Nigeria was represented at the Family Planning Summit held in London a couple of weeks ago by the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, who explained why the country is investing $4 million in the Global Family Planning initiative.

    According to the Minister, family planning is one of the strongest anti-poverty strategies and low-hanging fruit for reducing maternal mortality. The success of the introduction of family planning as part of basic health in the health sector is to ensure that a woman’s right as a human right is realised. Nigeria wants to include Family Planning as part of basic healthcare to complement ante-natal services, and immunisation routine.

    The new contraceptive methods would include sub-cutaneous Depo Medroxyprogesterone Acetate injections) which is an injectable, progestin-only contraceptive that provides highly effective, private, and relatively long-acting (three months), reversible contraception. Use of DMPA eliminates both the need for user action daily or near the time of sexual intercourse and the need for partner cooperation.

    DMPA is a good contraceptive option for the following groups of women: Women who do not want to take a contraceptive pill daily, women who have a contraindication to, or wish to avoid, an estrogen-containing contraceptive and women who would like to eliminate regular menses.

    This initiative on the part of the Federal Government is commendable, but I want to remind the Minister that we should to look inwards for solutions to our problems.

    The Minister during his briefing with Health Editors in Lagos to mark his one year in office said there were many things Nigerians could benefit from traditional medicine. Some of them, according to him, are bone setting and healing with herbal plants, saying that his ministry will explore how to assist herbal healers on how to improve their practice, especially in standardising their products.

    I quote: “That will help us as a country to export them, instead of the plethora of foreign herbal products that have taken over the market. We have a lot to learn from China and even Ghana, but gradually we are getting there. The way traditional medicine is now can’t be compared with what obtained some centuries ago,” Adewole said.

    He said Nigeria was in the forefront of research and development of herbal plants. “A quick search into National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRID) shows how indigenous herbal-plants have been researched, developed and packaged into life-saving products, so we have a lot to boast of in that sector. We only need to hone the skill of the practitioners,” he said.

    According to World Health Organisation (WHO), traditional medicine is the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not. It is used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.

    “To ensure that this sector is re

    As far as Traditional Medicine is concerned in Nigeria, it seems to me that we are only experiencing what I would describe as motion without movement.In China, India, Germany and other parts of the world, Natural and Traditional Medicine is well set up and could be clearly identified within the healthcare delivery system. Unfortunately, the case is different in Nigeria. The African Union (AU) mandated that the member states of which Nigeria is prominent should use the decade of 2001-2010 to set up the institution of Traditional medicine and ensure that the establishments stand side by side with the orthodox clinics and hospitals to give citizens a choice for their healthcare requirements. It is another extra decade after the expiration of the AU’s mandate and nothing is visible in Nigeria. All hopes are not lost, thanks to the current Minister of Health, who had expressed strong believe and conviction in the relevance of Traditional medicine to our healthcare system. But his term will expire in less than two years. The question to ask is: Has he got any magic wand to make an indelible mark in this matter within this short space of time? If he works very hard, he could at least lay a solid foundation which would not be easily demolished by his successors.

    Now is the time for the Federal Government to take the bull by the horn. In the Traditional system, there are herbal preparations that are affordable and do not need the elaborate implementation as required for the injectable options in the orthodox system.

    Herbal preparation with a promise for Nigeria

     

     About 30 years ago, I was a witness to a demonstration of the awesome power in traditional medicine to solve the family planning problem. A close relation who had for a long time been using the orthodox drugs got fed up because of the side effects and therefore consulted a herbalist who gave her a herbal formulation which worked. I waited for several months to watch the outcome of this intervention and confirmed that it was working and out of curiosity, I decided to investigate. The herbalist after a long period of persuasion agreed to reveal this formula to me. It was interesting and simple.

    There is a plant known as IROSUN (The botanical name is Baphia Nitida). The wonderful aspect of this preparation is that different parts of the same tree would be used for preventing pregnancy and for restoring fertility. The bark of the root prepared in a particular way would prevent pregnancy permanently (it has superior power to Depo Medroxyprogesterone Acetate which is only effective for three months). To restore fertility, the leaves of the tree are also prepared in a particular way and the effect was also immediate.

    I have tried this formulation on at least ten subjects and the result was excellent. I could not go on with further development and research owing to the huge financial implications. The orthodox drug being embraced by the Federal Government would have cost the manufacturers several millions of dollars and Nigeria is investing so much in this finished product. I believe that with a modest investment in research, Nigeria would likely have an exportable product if this type of product is developed.

    Delving deeper into the investigation on the wonderful Irosun tree, I found from literature that it is recognised by the Ifa worshippers as the mysterious tree through which Orunmila as the progenitor of humanity descended from heaven to the Earth for the first time. The tree is also known as The Tree of Life or Creation. The powder of the dried stem of this tree is the backbone of Ifa Oracular practice. It is used for divination and through it, the oracle communicates with humanity on any subject in nature.

    The ethnobotanical data in Dr. Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases confirmedsome of the Ethnobotanical and folk medicinal uses of Irosun plant (Baphia nitida) as follows:

    Arthritis, carminative, dysentery, enteritis, fungicide, gastritis,  Jaundice. Laxative, newborn,  parasiticide,  preventitive (Bee sting). Rheumatism, ringworm, skin, sprain, stiffness, swelling.

     

    Venereal, Wound

     

    In addition to its needed effects, some unwanted effects may be caused by medroxyprogesterone. In the event that any of these side effects do occur, they may require medical attention.

    While the Irosun plant medication has not been known to have side effects, information from the website drug.com showed a long list of major and minor sider effects of medroxyprogesterone.

     

    The way forward

    A couple of years ago, we set up an organisation known as  Research Institute of Traditional and Alternative Medicine(RITAM) with the following goals and vision:

    • To prospect, harness, evaluate and certify diagnostic, curative and preventive values of safe traditional medicine products thereby developing a resource compendium of medicines for the Primary Health Care Centre (PHC) in all the 774 local government areas as well as for the use of all Traditional and Alternative Medicine practitioners home and overseas.
    • To find lasting solutions to WHO priority list of diseases i.e. Malaria, Hypertension, Diabetes, Sickle Cell Anemia and HIV/AIDS through Nigerian Traditional Medicine.
    • To have a comprehensive data of traditional medicine products that should be recommended for preclinical and human trials at the Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) and Nigeria Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) and other Research Centres particularly the Nigerian Teaching Hospitals in the process of their becoming Herbal Drugs.
    • To provide candidate herbal drugs that would be included in the National Drug Formulary.
    • To ensure that at least 50 herbal products would have been certified as being evidence based in the •To collaborate with all Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Science and Technology, Education, Environment and other relevant government agencies to propagate Traditional and Alternative Medicine in Nigeria.
    • To position traditional medicine products from Nigeria in the international market, thereby making TM products the highest income generating industry for the country.
    • To encourage mass production of endorsed traditional medicine products.

    The organisation functioned for some time and became moribund for lack of financial support by the appropriate authorities. This is the type of private sector initiative that should be supported and encouraged by the Ministry of Health to jumpstart the needed revolution necessary for the integration of traditional/herbal medicine to the healthcare delivery system in the country.

    In concluding, I wish to emphasize that this article is not meant to encourage readers to try remedies, particularly herbal or traditional, that have not been subjected to scientific tests for safety and efficacy. Until, the Federal Ministry of Health endorses tested local remedies, it is advisable to embrace the efforts being currently championed by the Federal Government.

    I am willing to collaborate with doctors, scientists and other research centres in Nigeria to develop this formulation to a level where it would complement Government effort to find a lasting solution to family planning problems in the country.

    Readers can send their reaction to this article to:

    okubena@health-forever.com

  • Herbal Pro partners naturopathy nutrition to expand range of herbal remedies

    HERBAL Pro Limited owners of Nigeria’s top herbal weight loss management capsules EZ Slim, has announced its partnership with naturopathy and orthomolecular research and nutrition firm Eric Favre. It’s no news that the world is turning towards the use of herbal medicinal products and supplements in the fight against illnesses and diseases as well as increasing the quality of life. According to statics, the last three decades have seen about 80% increase in the use of herbal medicines and supplement with as high as 80% relying on them for some part of primary health care. With this in mind, Herbal Pro has signed a deal with Eric Favre with the aim of providing naturally effective remedies to prevent illnesses and improve overall well-being.

    According to the Managing Director, Kishore Uttamchandani, the use of herbal medicines and phytonutrients or nutraceuticals continues to gain more recognition across the world with more and more people resorting to natural based products for the treatment of various health challenges.Kishore said ‘We are excited that we will be adding more herbal products to their flagship product EZ Slim. Herbal Pro is focused on providing herbal remedies to combat illnesses and diseases and our partnership with Eric Favre who is known for his ability to develop effective natural remedies will bring us closer to our goal. According to Herbal Pro Limited, Eric Favre and his team of experts will be in charge of developing formulas from natural ingredients while Herbal Pro will be the sole distributors of these remedies in Nigeria.

    Herbal Pro Limited is a company with the aim of promoting healthy living through the use of herbal and natural remedies