The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Vitamin C

  • Vitamin C can cut time spent in intensive care units

    VITAMIN C could be a cost-effective way to reduce the time that patients spend in intensive care. This was the conclusion of a recent analysis of evidence from published trials.

    Dr. Harri Hemilä of the University of Helsinki in Finland and Dr. Elizabeth Chalker of the University of Sydney in Australia have written a study paper that features in the journal Nutrients in which they explain how they found the “statistically highly significant evidence” that led to their conclusion.

    A pooled analysis of data from a dozen trials found that giving patients vitamin C reduced time spent in the intensive care unit (ICU) by an average of 8 percent.

    The authors are not claiming that the evidence is enough to justify changes to ICU practice.

    They do, however, maintain that their findings serve as “proof of concept” and call for further research to investigate the effect of vitamin C on ICU patients.

    “In further studies,” they write, “the dose-response relationship should be carefully investigated, and oral and intravenous administration should be compared directly.”

    Scientists have described vitamin C as a “functional food ingredient” because it is “biologically active” and has “clinically proven effects” that help to prevent, manage, and treat chronic diseases.

  • Coca-cola, Fanta, Sprite, sodium benzoate and vitamin C

    There are some wise saying which keep ringing in my ears every day. One of them is… ‘everything false will inevitably collapse someday’. Another is … ‘A wise man does not plunge for a swim in a vexious sea spewing tsunamis’, yet another says … ‘everything must become new’. I saw glimpses of them all in the thunderbolt judgment of a Lagos High Court three weeks ago. The first impression which hit me from a summary of the judge’s decision was that Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite were preserved with chemical substances which were dangerous to health, and NAFDAC, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, was negligent on not warning the public about this. I didn’t believe the news flash at first. It wasn’t that I didn’t know that the so-called “soft drink”, like all processed foods and drinks, were dangerous to health. The question was: Who would tell this king that his mother was a witch?

    In Alternative medicine chats, it was always reasoned that whoever lifted a finger against these products in public would be “eliminated” by international capital.

    Even in the United States the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), equivalent of Nigeria’s NAFDAC, is in the pockets of Big Pharma and the giant food and agriculture concerns. And until recently, they funded medical practice in all sorts of ways to get medical opinion on their side. Dr. Robert Atkins, who would not agree to be pocketed, was ostracised. No radio or television station would grant him exposure. Newspapers and magazines distanced themselves from him in order not to damage their friendship with the food and drugs industry which brings them millions of dollars every year in advertisement income.

    In the end, Dr. Atkins became a publisher and published his own books because no publisher would agree to publish them for him.

    Back to Nigeria, someone asked me last week what I thought would now happen to Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite in the market. Immediately, I remembered these three wise sayings…

    What is false

    I learned from a spiritual work in the 1970s that- “whatever is false will inevitably collapse someday”.  Falsehood means anything that is not in accord with the Laws of Nature. This may be a form of government, an economic system, imbalance in relationships or even the type of food or drink we consume to maintain our health. We humans did not create ourselves. We did not create our world either. Thus, we are creatures and subject to the Will of the Creator in His Creation. In my view, our Creator provided us with a bountiful vineyard from which we are meant to obtain our meals fresh and filled with life-force. Because we urbanised and needed to store food for the future, a food industry arose which now developed not only poisonous chemicals to grow food and store them, but even more poisonous chemicals to preserve them for many days, weeks and even years. Our organs of elimination (detoxification) were not made to remove from our bodies the terrible chemicals we now eat and drink with food today. Over time, these organs (the lungs, kidneys, the liver and the skin) are unable to cope, become ill or damaged and, therefore, allow accumulations of poisons in our bodies which cause cancer and many of the degenerative diseases now ravaging the Nigerian population in large quantum. Someday, the public will become aware of this and, individually every person will remove himself or herself from the rot, as I did about 30 years ago.

    The separation from falsehood may come through a revolution, an opportunity for which the Lagos High Court Judgment provided. But the Nigerian public is a dormant, educated-illiterate population. Up till now, many people have not heard of the Lagos High Court Judgment. Some who have heard are asking if it is true. When they learn it is, they resign themselves to fate, saying … “Afterall, something will kill a man”. Those who do not  wish to die ask about the options the Lagos High Court or the Government has provided if they are to stop taking these drinks, as if the judge and the government brought them to this earth or bear primary responsibility for their life and existence on earth. I expect the government and the court not to press this matter too far, because of the possibility that it may unhinge society. Unemployment will grow today if Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite have to go. Think not only of those corporate offices and factories, but, also, of those hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of women who sell these “soft drinks” nationwide. If all of them have to go, their exit will be a tip of the iceberg.

    For the same chemicals we complain about in these “soft drinks” are present in commercially prepared white flour snacks which go by different names, tined foods, fruit juices, jams, pickles, salad dressings (these in particular contain large amounts of sodium benzoate), medicines and cosmetics, vinegars, salted margarine, still beverages, olives, pastry and pie fillings, stoned vegetables… almost everywhere in the food industry. So, an attack on Coco-Cola, Fanta and Sprite is an attack on the food industry. Your guess should, therefore, be as good as mine in respect of how the on-going rippling of the food industry will end if, because of the Nigerian complacency, the time is not ripe for “falsehood” to vacate the stage.

     

    A vexatious sea …

    Dr. Fijabi Adebo may not have realised he could cause trouble for  Nigeria’s food industry when, about eight years ago, his company, FIJABI ADEBO HOLDINGS LTD, approached Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) for business. In March 2007, The company purchased large quantities of Coca-Cola, Fanta Orange, Sprite, Fanta Lemon, Fanta Pineapple and Soda Lemon water for export to the United Kingdom. The products were to be retailed to the company’s customers in the U.K. But the Fanta and Sprite products failed to satisfy health safety requirements of the Stock Port Metropolitan Borough Council’s Trading Standard Department of Environment and Economy Directorate. The health authority found that Benzoic acid and sunset yellow levels in the products were too high for human consumption and could cause cancer. The products were seized and destroyed.

    The U.K funding’s were corroborated by the Coca-Cola Union. Adebo Holdings Company thought that, being a member of the Nigerians Export Promotion Council, it could lawfully export Nigerian products abroad. In any case, NBC was aware the products were to be exported and should have made them comply with the standards of the U.K. The company said NBC was negligent and “breached the duty of care” owed to its valued customers. As for NAFDAC, it said the agency failed to ensure that NBC offered safe products for sale. As a result, asked the judge to compel NAFDAC to force NBC to include a written warning on the labels of these products. The warning is to read that the products cannot be taken with Vitamin C.

    The Crux

    This is the heart or crux of the matter. Sodium benzoate and vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) are said to form Benzene, a proven carcinogen (cancer-causing agent). Food processors use sodium benzoate in acidic foods to control bacteria, yeast, fungi and mild, different species of the same microbial family. On its own, sodium benzoate is touted to cause no harm in the human body if it is not taken with vitamin c. The trouble, however, is that, today, many soft drink manufacturers try to make their products nutritive by adding Vitamin C to them, irrespective of the fact that these drinks are already preserved with Sodium benzoate. In the United States recently, the FDA tested 84 soft drink products and found that 54 of them contained Benzene. Others had levels of up to 79.2 ppb, whereas national rules disapprove of anything above 5 ppb in drinking water.

    Producers of the drinks get away because present limits are only on drinking water and not on soft drinks. Many critics of this double standard believe the producers of soft drinks have gotten away because they were able to over power the law-making machinery. At conferences, they sponsor researchers to hold down the system and re-assure the public that all is well. In the state of California, the government asked soft drinks manufacturers in 2001 to keep sodium Benzene below 0.15ppb. But the soft drinks industry has done nothing about that. Even the so-called powerful American media was irresponsive for a long while. The ground-breaking research on sodium Benzoate, Ascorbic acid and Benzene took place in 1993 and was published in that year in the JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD CHEMISTRY by researchers lalita K Gardner and Glen D Lawrence. But it wasn’t until 2005, by which time many people had died of cancer and other degenerative diseases that the American media began to talk about it.

    Nbl defence

    I pity the NBL. It is fighting an industry-wide battle. The pure water and bottle water sub-sector is keeping quit. So are those in white flour snack business. The sodium benzoate is in “pickles, peppers, salad dressings, jams, most condiments cheese, ketch up, or diet or regular soda… mouth wash, toothpaste, cough syrup, cream lotion and hundreds of cosmetics products”. They are all keeping mute. The NBL admits that it sold its products to Fijabi Adebo Holdings Ltd. But it said this customer did not inform it that the products were to be exported. The inference on which the NBL predicated its defense, therefore, was that, if it had this information it may have advised against the export of these products. This was because Coco-Cola Nigeria was a different franchise from Coca-Cola U.K. Both derived their existence from Coca-Cola International and produced the products under different specifications of national or municipal laws. The weather in Nigeria, being hotter than that of the U.K, would naturally require a different grade of antimicrobials. In any case, says NBL, sodium benzoate content of Nigerian products were still within the international range, although they were higher than U.K specifications. It, therefore, did not see itself as uncaring for the health and wellbeing of its customers as the court judgment tended to portray it. NAFDAC itself has served a notice of appeal against the judgment which painted it in like terms and compelled it to compel NBL to insert a warning on its label that it was dangerous to consume these products with Vitamin C.

    Rough weather

    There is no doubt that the weather is rough for the food industry. But it is doubtful if it would lose the battle in the end. Nutritionists know that consuming sodium benzoate and vitamin c together may cause cancer and other degenerative diseases. But so is consuming Sodium Benzoate with Vitamin E. Even if Vitamin C and Vitamin E are not  consume together with sodium benzoate, are there no free forms of Vitamin C and Vitamin E in the blood which can react with sodium benzoate taken independently to form Benzene? We shouldn’t forget that sodium benzoate is in hundreds of processed foods, cosmetics and probably beer.

    This suggests that little drops of sodium benzoate from diverse sources can form mighty oceans of sodium benzoate in the body which can then combine with vitamin c and vitamin E taken at separate times. Who can say that he or she does not take vitamin C and vitamin E food supplements with processed foods which, until now, he or she did not suspect to habour sodium benzoate? If NBL says it has not acted against any law by not including warning on the labels would it not be right to say so? Mr. Fijabi Adebo is not crusading for public health. He is fighting in court to recoup lost investment. It is the National Assembly and the Presidency, which can conduct public hearing and brings up a law. NAFDAC ought to have spearheaded this drive, following the trends abroad. Every day, doctors and lay people alike lament that more and more people are dying from all forms of cancer and other degenerative diseases, including eye problems.

    The sun has not begun to rise in the West and set in the East for us to link this trend to such a phenomenon. We must, therefore, look into the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water and drinks we consume. As we find sodium benzoate in most of them, we should be alarmed at the possible daily ingestion of it from varied sources and set new regulations. That is what they are doing in Europe and the U.S to always move on and leave us behind.

    Mr. Justice Adedayo Oyebanji of the Lagos High Court did a good job, in my view, to put the public on its toes. Although judges are meant to interpret the law, their interpretations sometimes amount to enactments. He has not told NBL to stop business. He has told it to warn the consumers of its products the risk they may be taking by consuming these products with vitamin C. I wonder what the judge would have decided if we knew that sodium benzoate could cause the same havocs when consumed with Vitamin E or when consumed independently. In www.naturalnews.com, we are advised:

    “Sodium benzoate has the ability to deprive the cells of oxygen, break down the immune system and cause cancer. It chokes out the body’s nutrient at the DNA cellular level by depriving mitochondria cells of oxygen, sometimes completely shutting them down. Just as humans need oxygen to breathe, cells need oxygen to function properly, and fight off infection, including cancer.”

    Everything must become new

    When I was striving in the 1970s to become a new man and came upon this admonition in a spiritual teaching, I almost gave up the search for the meaning of existence.

    But everything must become new, the author referred to the fact that our world did not come into being without a purpose for being, that it is a work which is governed by certain laws, that humans are in this part of that world for a purpose and governed by these laws, that they find peace and happiness when they conform with these laws, that conformity is at the levels of thoughts, the spoken or written word, and the physical deed, that divergence from conformity brings pain and ruin because it is outside the Will of the Almighty Creator. Therefore such works of man as marriage, education, human relationships, the government, jurisprudence, and nutrition, for example, will bring pain and ruin if they are conducted outside the natural laws. Everything must become new calls for a new human order in which the laws of Nature provide the frame work for human conduct.

    Everything must become new in nutrition as well. It is baseless argument to say preservatives are inevitable in the food industry of today’s world where urbanisation demands that food be transported across continents and stored for goodness knows how long. Have we asked ourselves how the Egyptians under the management of former slave boy Joseph preserved food in seven years of plenty for seven years of famine and more, during which the farms became productive again? Those were 14 long years or more. Man was close to Nature and natural beings in those days. Architect Lekan Adams, of Lagos, is richly endorsed with information and knowledge of the pyramid, as a storage powerhouse, much, much more efficient than the silos of today because its construction admits into it certain ethereal forces which can preserve anything for hundreds of years, if not more.

    Please keep the three concepts discussed above close to your heart in anything you observe or do … “Whatever is false will notably collapse someday”; “A wise person does not plunge into a rowdy sea for a swim”, and “everything must become new”.

  • Link between benzoic acid, vitamin C and Coca-Cola drinks

    Link between benzoic acid, vitamin C and Coca-Cola drinks

    One of my favourite Bible quotes can be found in the Book of Hosea chapter 4, verse7: ‘My people perish for lack of knowledge.’ In as much as the Bible confirms the importance of money in Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 19 where King Solomon stated that “Money answereth to all things,” yet it did not state that people can die for lack of it but placed so much importance on knowledge by saying that the lack of it can cause one to perish.

    These past few weeks, we have seen what damage the lack of knowledge on an issue can cause with particular reference to the benzoic acid, vitamin c and Coca-Cola drinks saga.

    The social media has been awash with the story. It’s been the number one discussion in most social gatherings. Both the “learned” and “unlearned” have been entertaining themselves with the story. At motor parks, it is the trending story – the carcinogenicity of carbonated beverages in the Nigerian market, especially products from the stables of the Nigerian Bottling Company, NBC.

    The tragic thing here is that most of the information passed around was unfounded rumours, innuendos and speculations without basis. While some claimed that NBC products kill outrightly when taken with Vitamin C, others said it causes cancer.

    However, for this lack of true and early information, I will not blame consumers but the NBC and the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control [NAFDAC] which kept fending-off journalists under the guise of civil service bureaucratic rules. “We are not authorised to speak with journalists.” The Agency’s Public Relations Officers were not picking their calls or responding to text messages from journalists.

    The whole confusion started when the public became drawn recently to a judgement of a Lagos State High Court, declaring Coca-Cola drinks, Fanta and Sprite, as unfit for human consumption if taken alongside Vitamin C.

    The judgement was as a result of a litigation commenced nine years ago by a Lagos business man who sued NBC and NAFDAC. The man had tried to export about N12million worth of Fanta and Sprite to the United Kingdom, but UK authorities, after carrying out tests on the product, confiscated the drinks, because, according to them, the products contained levels of benzoic acid and sunset additives, higher than the 150mg/kg allowed in the UK.

    According to Codex Alimentarius Commission (CODEX), the organ established by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to set international standards, codes of practice, guidelines relating to foods, food production and safety, the benzoic acid level for preservatives in carbonated drinks and water-based flavoured drinks is 250mg/kg.

    The amount of benzoic preservative in Fanta (1 batch) and Sprite (2 batches) presented in the Lagos High Court are 188.64mg/kg, 201.06mg/kg and 161.5mg/kg respectively, even below the regulatory limits recommended by CODEX, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) , the European Union (EU) commission and even the United States (US) food and drug agency.

    Under extremely hot weather of about 60 degree Celsius, benzoic acid can react with Vitamin C in drinks, producing benzene which is themed to be a carcinogen. Although according to the Deputy Director Research, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, Yaba, Lagos, Dr. Oliver Ezechi, the levels and frequency at which such benzene formation has occurred in the past has not been considered to pose a public health risk. Moreover, in Nigeria even peak Maiduguri heat is below 45 degrees Celsius.

    The court nevertheless ordered NAFDAC to compel NBC to, within 90 days, include on all bottles of Fanta and Sprite a warning clause that the drinks could be dangerous when consumed with Vitamin C.

    NBC denied that it was negligent. It stated that it was untrue that Fanta and Sprit could be dangerous when taken with Vitamin C. The ruling has been appealed against.

    The federal government also last weekend issued a statement, stating that after a meeting between the Federal Ministry of Health, NAFDAC and SON, in Abuja, the federal government came to the conclusion that Fanta and Sprite were fit for human consumption.

    The burning questions on the lips of Nigerians are: What is Benzoic Acid? What is it used for? Why did the UK authorities say that Fanta and Sprite had excess of it? What is the safe limit? Other question will be, what has it got to do with Vitamin C?

    To really understand the whole story, we shall take it step by step. Simply put, Benzoic acid is a popular preservative used by producers of food and none food products. It also occurs naturally in many plants and fruits such as cranberries, cloves, cinnamon, plum, currants. Significant levels have been found in honey.

    It is usually the first choice of food and some none food manufacturers.  It is very effective against moulds, yeasts and bacteria. It is commonly used in products such as jam, yoghurt, emulsified sauces, toothpaste, cosmetics, shampoo, chewing gum, medicine, carbonated drinks, fruit juice, salad dressing, etcetera.

    However, benzoic acid is particularly well suited for soft drinks, such as carbonated, still and juice beverage because it works best between PH level of 2-3. The composition of the drink therefore has an effect on its efficiency and suitability for use.

    Regulatory requirements of benzoic acid vary from country to country depending on environmental and weather conditions. For carbonated soft drinks and other water-based flavoured drinks, according to CODEX, benzoic acid should not exceed 250mg/kg.

    As stated earlier, for benzoic acid, country temperature, storage and distribution conditions guide setting standards. So while benzoic acid standards in Nigeria is 250mg/kg, UK is 150mg/kg. UK is a temperate climate and the weather does not support microorganism growth. Nigeria is a tropical country and the weather supports microbial proliferation and thus requires higher benzoic acid limit level, hence the higher 250 or 300mg/kg set by SON in Nigeria. However, it should be noted that SON has two legal limits for benzoic acid as food preservative.

    *If a product contains Vitamin C (Ascobic acid), less than 250mg/kg

    *No Vitamin C, (Ascorbic acid), less than 300mg/kg.

    What is the place of Vitamin C in all these? Usually, benzoic acid reacts with Vitamin C in drinks under extremely hot weather conditions like at above 60 degrees Celsius. But in Nigeria, even peak Maiduguri heat is below 45 degrees Celsius. However, when this reaction takes place, benzene which is a carcinogen can be produced.

    According to Ezechi, “the main issue in this controversy that all well-meaning Nigerians should condemn is the export of products meant for the Nigerian market to UK without due diligence. It can be inferred that the company did not obtain the necessary approvals from relevant agencies which are in the position to assist and ensure that all necessary trade/industry requirements were fulfilled.”

    Throwing more light on the controversy, he explained that rejection of a product is not always because of poor quality, but often may be due to non-conformity with regulatory requirements.

    Calling on people to research before making comments on issues that are outside their competence, he added, “We can only engage in meaningful discussion when we base our arguments on verifiable scientific facts and not emotions.”

    Follow us on Face book; Consumer watch-The Nation, and also on Twitter@jillokeke

     

  • Health ministry certifies Fanta, Sprite safe for consumers

    Health ministry certifies Fanta, Sprite safe for consumers

    The Federal Ministry of Health Friday put the controversy over the status of Fanta and Sprite to rest.

    The ministry declared both brands safe for consumption.

    There had been wide spread fears in the country following  the judgement of a Lagos High Court that  the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) should  order  the Nigeria Bottling Company (NBC) to issue a mandatory warning that the contents should not be taken with Vitamin C in order to avoid poisoning.

    The ministry waded into the meeting yesterday by calling a meeting with officials of the Department of Food and Drug Services, NAFDAC, and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to address the matter.

    Spokesman for the ministry,Mr. Akinola Boade, said in a statement at the end of the meeting that the findings of the Ministry’s investigation revealed that both Benzoic acid and Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) are ingredients approved by International Food Safety regulators and used in many food and beverage products around the world.

    He said the Benzoic acid content in both drinks remains within the specification set by Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC),the organ established by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) to set internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines relating to foods, food production, and food safety.

    He said: “In the case of Benzoic acid, the standard set by Codex was 600mg/kg until recently reviewed to 250mg/kg and adopted in 2016 (CODEX STAN 192–1995 revised 2015 and 2016).

    “With reference to the Codex standard and other relevant documents, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) as the standard setting body in Nigeria in consultation with technical experts and relevant stakeholders elaborated the standard of benzoic acid in soft drinks to be at 250mg/kg based on the National climatic and storage conditions – this standard has been in existence since 1997 and revised in 2008 (NIS 217:2008).

    “The levels of benzoic acid in Fanta (1 batch) and Sprite (2 batches) presented by the claimant in the court are 188.64mg/kg, 201.06mg/kg and 161.5mg/kg respectively; these levels are in compliance with both the Codex and Nigeria Industrial Standards.”

    The ministry pointed out that “NAFDAC and SON regularly monitor the manufacturing practices of food industries and conduct laboratory analysis to ascertain continuous compliance with required national standards; there was a routine inspection conducted at Nigeria Bottling Company by NAFDAC officers in December 2016 which was satisfactory.”

    On the difference between the standard of Fanta and Sprite in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, it said “each country or region is permitted to adapt a standard/limit based on country-specific scientific evidence such as environmental, storage and distribution conditions; Benzoic acid as a preservative prevents the growth of microorganisms which thrive more at higher climatic temperatures like in Nigeria.

    “Due to the different environmental conditions obtainable in the UK, the standard for benzoic acid was set at a lower limit of 150mg/kg while in Nigeria it was set at 250mg/kg even below that of Codex (as at time of production of that batch; Codex limit was 600mgkg); and Food products being imported into a country must comply with the relevant standards of the destination country.”

    It said the plaintiff in the suit that sparked the controversy “did not obtain NAFDAC certification before export, otherwise, he would have been advised on the required standard of the destination country.”

     

  • ‘Taking Fanta, Sprite with Vitamin C poisonous

    ‘Taking Fanta, Sprite with Vitamin C poisonous

    •Court orders NAFDAC to warn consumers 

    A Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, yesterday ordered the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to compel Nigeria Bottling Company (NBC) Plc, manufacturers of Fanta and Sprite soft drinks, to include a written warning that the drinks should not be taken with Vitamin C.
    Justice Adedayo Oyebanji gave the order while delivering judgment in a suit by a Lagos businessman, Dr. Emmanuel Fijabi Adebo, and his firm, Fijabi Adebo Holdings Ltd., against NBC and NAFDAC.
    The court warned that taking Fanta and Sprite with Vitamin C is poisonous and awarded N2 million against NAFDAC for failing “to live up to expectations”.
    It said NAFDAC failed Nigerians by certifying as satisfactory for human consumption, products which, in the United Kingdom (UK), failed sample test for human consumption and became poisonous in the presence of Ascorbic Acid, known as Vitamin C.
    The plaintiffs urged the court to declare the NBC was negligent and breached the duty of care owed its customers and consumers in the production of Fanta and Sprite with excessive “benzoic acid and sunset” additive.
    Fijabi also urged the court to direct NAFDAC to conduct routine laboratory tests of all soft drinks and allied products of the company, to guarantee their safety.
    Counsel to the plaintiffs, Mr. Abiodun Onidare, in an amended statement of claim, alleged that sometime in March 2007, Fijabi Adebo Holdings purchased large quantities of Coca-Cola, Fanta Orange, Sprite, Fanta Lemon, Fanta Pineapple and Soda Water from NBC for export to the UK for retail purpose.
    “In consideration of the fact that this case was filed in 2008 and has been in court for nine years, N2 million is awarded against NAFDAC. Interest shall be paid on the cost awarded at the rate of 10 per cent per annum until liquidation of the said sum,” Justice Oyebanji said.

  • Court to NAFDAC: Warn consumers against taking Fanta, Sprite with Vitamin C

    Court to NAFDAC: Warn consumers against taking Fanta, Sprite with Vitamin C

    A Lagos High Court, Igbosere, Lagos State, Monday ordered the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to compel Nigeria Bottling Company (NBC) PLC, manufacturers of Fanta and Sprite soft drinks, to include a written warning that the content of the bottles cannot be taken with Vitamin C.

    Justice Adedayo Oyebanji made the order while delivering judgment in a suit filed by a Lagos businessman, Dr Emmanuel Fijabi Adebo and his firm, Fijabi Adebo Holdings Ltd against the NBC and NAFDAC.

    The court warned that taking Fanta and Sprite with Vitamin C is poisonous and awarded a cost of N2 million against NAFDAC for failing “to live up to expectations.”

    It declared that NAFDAC failed the citizens of Nigeria by its certification as satisfactory for human consumption, products which in the United Kingdom (UK) failed sample test for human consumption and which became poisonous in the presence of Ascorbic Acid ordinarily known as Vitamin C, which can be freely taken by unsuspecting members of the public with Fanta and Sprite.

    The plaintiffs had urged the court to declare that the NBC was negligent and breached the duty of care owed to its customers and consumers in the production of what it argued was contaminated Fanta and Sprite soft drinks with excessive “benzoic acid and sunset” addictive.

    Fijabi also urged the court to direct NAFDAC to conduct and carry out routine laboratory tests of all the soft drinks and allied products of the company to ensure and guarantee the safety of the consumable products, produced from the NBC factory.

    The plaintiffs’ counsel Mr Abiodun Onidare  in an amended statement of claim alleged that sometime in March, 2007 Fijabi Adebo Holdings purchased large quantities of Coca-Cola, Fanta Orange, Sprite, Fanta Lemon, Fanta Pineapple and Soda Water from the NBC for export to the UK for retail purposes and supply to their customers in the UK.

    They said, among others, that when the consignment of the soft drinks arrived in the UK, fundamental health related matters were raised on the contents and composition of the Fanta and Sprite products by the UK health authorities, specifically the Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council’s Trading Standard Department of Environment and Economy Directorate.

    The claimants alleged further that NAFDAC failed to carry out necessary tests to determine if the soft drinks were safe for human consumption.

    The claimants demanded N15, 119,619.37 as special damages and N1, 622,000 being the money admittedly received from the claimants.

    However, NBC in its amended statement of defence filed by Mr. T. O. Busari admitted supplying the products but contended that the products manufactured by it were meant for local distribution and consumption as the firm does not manufacture its products for export.

    It denied that it was negligent in the manufacturing of its products as alleged, stressing that stringent quality control procedures were adopted in its production process to ensure that its products were safe for consumption.

    The firm denied that the damages alleged by the claimants were occasioned by its negligence or any fault from the company as the level of the chemical components in its soft drinks is safe for consumption in Nigeria.

    NAFDAC did not file any defence.

    In her judgment, Justice Oyebanji said: “It is imperative to state that the knowledge of the Nigeria Bottling Company that the products were to be exported is immaterial to its being fit for human consumption. The court is in absolute agreement with the learned counsel for the claimants that soft drinks manufactured by Nigeria Bottling Company ought to be fit for human consumption irrespective of colour or creed.

    ”It is manifest that NAFDAC has been grossly irresponsible in its regulatory duties to the consumers of Fanta and Sprite manufactured by Nigeria Bottling Company. In my respective view, NAFDAC has failed the citizens of this great nation by its certification as satisfactory for human consumption, products which in the United Kingdom failed sample test for human consumption and which become poisonous in the presence of Ascorbic Acid ordinarily known as Vitamin C, which can be freely taken by the unsuspecting public with the company’s Fanta or Sprite.

    ”As earlier stated, the court is in absolute agreement with the learned counsel for the claimants that consumable products ought to be fit for human consumption irrespective of race, colour or creed.

    ”By its certification as satisfactory, Fanta and Sprite products manufactured by Nigeria bottling company without any written warning on the products that it cannot be taken with Vitamin C, NAFDAC would have by its grossly irresponsible and unacceptable action caused great harm to the health of the unsuspecting public.

    ”The court, in the light of the damming evidence before it showing that NAFDAC has failed to live up to expectations, cannot close its eyes to the grievous implication of allowing the status quo to continue as it is.

    ”For the reasons herein adumbrated in this judgement, the court hereby orders as follows:

    ”That NAFDAC shall forthwith mandate Nigeria Bottling Company to, within 90 days hereof, include on all the bottles of Fanta and Sprite soft drinks manufactured by the company, a written warning that the content of the said bottles of Fanta and Sprite soft drinks cannot be taken with Vitamin C as same becomes poisonous if taken with Vitamin C.

    ”In consideration of the fact that this case was filed in 2008 and that it has been in court for nine years, costs of N2 million is awarded against NAFDAC. Interest shall be paid on the costs awarded at the rate of 10% per annum until liquidation of the said sum.”

     

  • ‘How packaging boosts brands’

    Product branding and packaging are important to the success of a brand in the corportae world. In this age of globalisation, there are many brands competing in the market.

    As a result, they have to analyse not only the product but also the manufacturer, brand name, packaging, price and contents.

    Despite the quality, price, content and other aspect in products, brand builders often place great value on the product packaging, described as the first point of appeal to consumers.

    In a consumer report titled: Universite Laval, France Influences of Brand Name and Packaging on Perceived Quality, an expert, Benny Rigaux-Bricmont, said  packaging plays greater role on product quality perception and reputation. As a result, it can be an indicator of product quality.

    “Research has shown the important role of brand names and brand packaging on quality perception. Brand reputation can be either a common surrogate indicator of product quality or an effective strategy to reduce risk when ease of evaluation is low,” he said.

    “Being almost a part of the product, packaging does not only act as a means of communication but may also interact closely with the evaluation of the product itself,” Rigaux-Bricmont said.

    He submitted both brand names and brand packaging influence the consumers’ quality evaluations. “For example, in a study conducted in Michigan, Roberts and Taylor (1975) investigated with mixed results the effects of the visual cue of granule size on ratings of various coffee types. But here, only the first two cues were suspected to be potential troublemakers for the client firm. In a managerial perspective, the finding that-brand and packaging images help the consumer in differentiating the brands, accentuates the importance of the various firms’ marketing efforts, and more particularly, their interdependence,” Rigaux-Bricmont added.

    While many products continue to realise the importance of product packaging across all market categories to survive the dire competition, brand builders are not relenting in sustaining their brand equity as their product lifecycle move from one stage to the other. As a result of the growing competition in the fruit juice market, one of the brands of juice from Chi Limited, Chivita Active, was given a new packaging as part of marketing efforts to strategic makeover to reposition and convey tangible and intangible attributes of the brand to the consumer.

    According to the Managing Director of Chi Limited, Mr. Deepanjan Roy, the new pack is a fresh and new design that is aimed at effectively communicating the core value of Chivita Active as an “active healthy lifestyle” brand to consumers.

    He added that the new pack parades a bold new logo that is refreshingly modern while exuding the core essence of active health. “With rounded contemporary edges and the forward pointing red triangle, the logo emphasises on advancement, achievement and success,” he said.

    “The design is cutting edge. The rich fruit and juice visuals combine perfectly with the simplistic design and colour pallet to reveal a truly sophisticated pack. It is a pack that exudes confidence and fitness and will resonate with those who lead an active lifestyle and are primed to achieve more,” Roy said.

    The pack features a nutritional information on the six citrus fruits mixed together to form the juice while “Fortified with Vitamin C” is positioned on the pack to further identify with the health conscious consumer.

    Further examination of the pack reveals active images on the side panels that urge consumers to embrace the active lifestyle and an inviting motif of fruits and juice splash.

    The brand managers used the package to message contents in the new package and the product variant. “It contains six citric fruit juices and added vitamin C. The citric fruit juices are Orange, Grapefruit, Lime, Tangerine, Lemon and Mandarine,” he said.

  • Really, does Vitamin C cause kidney stones?

    We live in an ever-changing ding-dong, ping-pong world of science, research, technology and medicine complexes. In this world, doctors, like their patients, are captives. The doctor may be a researcher-physician. But this breed is rare. Often, he is a diagnostic agent depended on feeds from research scientists and the pharmaceutical industry. Researchers never all agree on any subject. But for the sake of not disturbing public confidence in their work, they often strike a consensus, which may be correct or wrong, and it is this consensus the doctor prescribes in his consulting room. Until Dr. Barry Marshall challenged his colleagues that surgical removal of the vagus nerve was an incorrect answer to peptic ulcer, in their wrong belief that this nerve activated acid pumps in the stomach, surgery was the trend which was gradually giving way to acid-pump inhibitor drugs. So much money had been pumped into the research of two of these, Taga met for example, and Dr Marshall posed a threat to the investors when he came up with the idea that Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium, was the cause of stomach ulcer. From a surgically removed ulcerated stomach ulcer tissue, he scooped out some Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori), cultured it in a beaker, drank the solution, developed stomach ulcer, wiped away H.Pylori with antibiotics and cured the ulcer. How would Taga met sell if doctors changed gear? Dr Marshall almost lost his licence to practice in the controversy which followed his experiment!

    Dr. William Bates, too, almost lost his licence to practice optometry in New York after he said eye glasses were not the answers to focal problems. His answers were exercise, relaxation and suppleness of the six eye muscles which, when stiff, cannot effectively and efficiently adjust the eye ball to register focal objects on the retina, the light responsive portion of the eye. This natural solution would have brought the eye glasses industry to ruin. Dr. Bates survived the plots of his professional colleagues. Today, he has many disciples who have simplified his thoughts for medical lay persons. I have just begun to read the book of one of them, Martin Brofman entitled IMPROVE YOUR VISION in which he says, for example:

    “Our physical eyes are the organs of outer perception but they also relate to our inner perceptions. Eyesight is not just a physical process involving acuity, it is a multidimensional function affecting and affected by our emotional and Mental State of Being. Eyesight is also linked to personality and each type of vision impairment correlates with a specific personality type”

    I am a long-sighted person, and I am futuristic to a fault. I have found, too, that many short-sighted people, that is people who cannot see distant objects without the aid of certain eye glasses, are people who are easily unnerved by fleeting events or matters of the moment. In short-sighted people, the focused image does not reach the retina, and, so, cannot register in the brain; in far sighted people, it registers past the retina. I engage in exercises which focus the eyes on the tip of my nose for some time. But, going by the Bates method, I have to change some of my perceptions of existence to rid myself of the emotional stresses which, he says, register on the muscles of the eyes as in any other organ. Consider, for example the status of the OBLIQUE MUSCLES. They wrap around the eyeball like a belt on the waist line. The one above is called the superior oblique muscle, the one below the inferior. When these muscles are tense and contract, they alter the shape of the eyeball, flattening it. And this affects light transmission. Dr Bates and his disciples say eye glasses merely force vision through whereas the right solution consists of eye muscle exercise, nutrition and emotional balance, all of which are aimed at relaxing these tension-soaked and contracted muscles. Thus, the healing of faulty vision has both external and internal handles. In the introduction to IMPROVE YOUR VISION, author says of the internal handle:

    “If you have impaired vision, you have not been yourself. You have hidden or suppressed your real self, or lived according to an image of what you think you should be. Can you imagine what your life will be like when you discover you don’t have to do that, and you can be the real YOU? Will you feel fear?”

    ONE of the legacies Dr Bates left behind after his death in 1931 was the success story of the author of IMPROVE YOUR VISION in the INTRODUCTION SECTION of this book. In 1975, he suffered from a cancer in the spinal cord for which his doctors gave him just one month of live. In that period, he learned about how this perceptions and emotional stresses may have given rise to this condition, went off unappetising prescription diet, the doctors had prescribed for him since he was going to die, anyway, changed his perceptions and survived the cancer.! His world view changed, and he found medicine can be a ping-pong!

    We live in an ever changing world. Last Thursday, some readers of this column telephoned me to ask if I had heard the news that day of a research which suggested that Vitamin C had caused kidney stones in some people. The callers did not say if the research was Nigerian or foreign, or of where the news was published. The wife of one of them declined immediately to follow the daily family routine of taking 1000mg, of alkaline Vitamin C with breakfast. I told her husband, who often called me, that my wife and I and our children, when they were at home, took this much dosage of alkaline Vitamin C regularly for many years and have reported no signs of kidney stones. I appreciated the fear of his wife. You have to have lots of nerves not to be “four legged” after you have been “forewarned,” as the Pyrates used to admonish us ahead of their “sail” back on the university. For many reasons, however, including a lack of the details of their research at this time, I find it difficult to swing along with the news. But that is not to say that large doses of Vitamin C may not dispose some people to developing kidney stones, if other conditions make them potential sufferers. I will explain some of my reasons for not warming up to the report at this time.

     

    Which Vitamin C?

     

    1) It is unclear if the investigation distinguished between pharmaceutical or artificial Vitamin C and natural or “health food” Vitamin C. It is important to know which type the kidney stone sufferers took before calcium turned to stones in their kidneys. Lately, pharmaceutical Vitamins and cheap Calcium brands which the body does not absorb well have been found to cause all sorts of problems.

     

    Cow’s milk

     

    2) Were the study subject’s cow milk drinkers? The Calcium in cow’s milk has been found not only to be too dense for human needs, it is poorly absorbed and metabolised as well.

     

    Oxalic acid

     

    3) Do the study subjects consume a lot of oxalic acid-rich foods? Among these foods are Pumpkin vegetable (ugwu) Sorrel (sobo tea), Spinach, beans, Rhubarb, Brussel spronts, and some of those other Cruciferous vegetables widely acclaimed for high antioxidant activities. In Nigeria, pumpkin leaves previously an Igbo vegetable delicacy, has becomes an important part of the national vegetable cuisine. And because of its rich iron content, the juice is widely used for blood building as well as for treating debility and for convalescence from illness. In Lagos, the nation’s commercial capital, pumpkin vegetable is the mainstay of many subsistence farmers because of the huge demand for it in homes and restaurants. I experienced a havoc excess oxalic acid can unleash many years ago at The Comet newspaper in Lagos. I had just returned from a trip to Senegal where, everywhere I went, I discovered that sorrel tea, to the Senegalese, was what tea or coffee was to the English man or woman. For several weeks, I drank sorrel tea both at home and in the office. Many of my colleagues joined the queue. Soon, my knees began to ache on exertion, especially wherever I climbed the stairs which I had to do many times a day, shuttling between my office on the third floor and the newsroom and business department, because there was no intercom connection. Thanks to my pharmacist friend from Apa, near Badagry, Mr Ogun, who, with another pharmacist friend in those days co-founded Health Acres with which Mr Akin Soname from Ikene and Mr S.K. Oluwo of blessed memory, then Managing Director of BAGCO, were connected, to produce local herbs. He told me of how oxalic acid combined with free calcium-oxalate stones especially in the kidneys. When I stopped drinking sorrel tea, my knee weakness and pains disappeared. Perhaps I did not have enough substances in my body to prevent a union of calcium and oxalic acid or to break or to dissolve it. Lately, I discovered that any time I added Crayfish to a meal, I experienced heel on alighting from bed the following morning. When I stop crayfish, the pains disappear. So, I stopped crayfish.

    According to James F.Balch, M.D., co-author of PRESCRIPTIONS OF DIETARY WELLNESS, and Mark strangler, N. D., in their PRESCRIPTIONS FOR NATURAL CURES, a deficiency of magnesium in the diet is a more likely cause of Kidney stones.

    They say:

    “A study of 55 people with recurrent kidney stones looked at the effect of supplementing 500mg of magnesium daily for up to 4 years. The average number of recurrences of kidney stones dropped by 90 per cent. Also, 85 per cent of the people in the study remained stone-free as compared to 41 per cent who did not supplement magnesium. Studies have also shown that the combination of Magnesium and Vitamin B6 supplementation is very effective in reducing kidney stone formation. One study of 149 people with recurrent kidney stones who supplemented B6 (10mg) and Magnesium (300mg) had 92.3 per cent improvement in stone formation.

     

    Boron and Vitamin D

     

    DOCTORS often advice diet supplementation with a good Multivitamin/Multi-mineral complex. A good one comes with Boron and Vitamin D, among many others, both are calcium mobilizes for bone mineralization. The body makes Vitamin D from cholesterol under the skin when exposed to the sun. Almost every edible (bread, canned food etc) is Vitamin D fortified these days. So is cow’s milk and many beverages. Can one not really become overdosed with Vitamin D in these circumstances? Can an overdose not cause over-mobilisation of Calcium? And can over-mobilisation of Calcium not lead to free form calcium which can congeal in the absence of Magnesium and Vitamin B6, for example?

     

    Uric acid

     

    Most kidney stones are Calcium stones among other kidney stones are Uric acid stones. Some researchers have suggested that over production of Uric acid is meant to protect the body. I doubt if Uric acid sufferers will agree. It causes joint, bends fingers and toes, causes joint knobs on them, and produces peppery sensations and needle prick pains on the skin in addition to joint, a knee joint damaging condition. But these researchers say Uric acid flood is protective because the body opens the Uric acid tap only when antioxidants are Balch and strangler recommend warm lemon juice drink for Uric acid clearance, the same remedy natural therapists reach out for to chase away joint, perhaps because of its alkalinizing effect.

     

    What about phosphates

     

    MANY physicians do not wish to accept that an association exists between diet and the occurrence of kidney stones. But, characteristic of the ding-dong, ping-pong nature of these matters, other physicians are pressing the point. Antagonist’s experiments in which calcium-rich food, uric acid-forming foods and phosphates were significally reduced in the diet and stone formation persisted. It would appear insist the proponents that not enough consideration was given to other occurrences in the kidney which support precipitation of these substance and the ensuing stone information. Such occurrences include heavy metal presence and infestation of infection agents, particularly in India. In the Western world where a lot of phosphates are consumed, especially from soft drinks and fertilizer frown food drops, there occurs more cases of kidney stones in the exposed population than in other parts of the world with minimal exposure. When in excess, phosphorus and its derivative Phosphates support Calcium leach from the bones and excretion through the urine by the kidney. If, due to any reason, including dehydration, which is common, Calcium precipitation will occur in this organ if the kidney lacks capacity to move out Calcium as fast as it cores. There are too many factors that can cause a kidney stone havoc that makes a narrowing of the searchlight unable to provide a broadsided solution. The Parathyroid glands may be a part of this picture if they malfunction and cause Calcium to leave the body at an alarming rate the kidney may not cyle wit. In the 1980s, I met a young First Class engineering graduate of the University of Lagos, who had this parathyroid gland problem. His legs were so weak that he had to walk aided by crutches. His parents, like his doctors, wanted any medicine that would normalise Parathyroid gland function. I was naive in this area. In retrospect now, I wonder if the problem wouldn’t have been a case of systemic candidacies! A check of his blood under the dark field microscope would have been able to say if it was! Hormones, too, would have their own roles to play in calcium not precipitating in the kidney. Are the hormones of the research subject in a state of balance?

     

    Dr Linus Pauling

    If he has not gone too far away from the vicinity of the earth, Dr. Linus Pauling, like his disciples, would be turning in his grave, as they say, with research work on Vitamin C such as the one in reference. He devoted most of his search life to Vitamin C research. Twice, he won the Nobel Prize for his work. And each time remarkably, he had not shared the Prize with anyone, as often happens. The kernels of his work are that

    1) Vitamin C is required to hold all the 100trillion cells in the adult human body together, through support for the production of collagen, the cellular cement, which is the most abundant form of protein in the body.

    2) For a number of reasons, the 60mg daily recommendation set by doctors for adults is no longer sufficient in today’s polluted and stress – filled life.

    3) Man cannot produce or store Vitamin C for a long time like some animals. So, by the time gums are inflamed and bleeding, or the teeth are loose in their sockets, both classically sign of scurvy, much more damage of sub clinical scurvy would have occurred in the organs within.

    4) To him and his colleagues, the optimum daily need of a man, had he the enzyme like some animals to produce Vitamin C, would be, per body kilogramme weight, what these animals produce to be in good health.

    5) Some of these animals produce between 3,000 and 19,000 mg every day for about 154 pounds weight. For humans, the tissue saturation point of the Vitamin C was then established at, first, at 1,500mg daily, but later reevaluated at 5,000mg for this weight in healthy individuals devoid of any form of stress.

    6) When guinea pigs, primates and some fish were studied, the researchers found that guinea pigs consumed about 2,000mg of Vitamin C a day when at peace with themselves and about 7,000mg to 10,000mg when under stress. From this, scientists now believe humans need about 1,000 times more Vitamin C (that is 6,000mg daily) than today’s allowance of 60mg.

    Vitamin C has been shown to be an antioxidant, to boost immunity, sperm count, asthma, diabetes, and practically all diseases. In 1990, Dr Abram Hoffer and Dr Linus Pauling studied 12,000mg Vitamin C therapy a day on cancer patients whose conditions had defied surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. The cancers were of the breast, ovaries, cervix, uterus and 61 other types. In addition to Vitamin C, the subjects were given other supplements (1.5 to 3grammes of Niacin, 250mg of Vitamin B6 800 international units (I.U.) of Vitamin and 30,000mg of selenium” a control group of 3 cancer patients was giving no supplements. For most control group patients, the average survival rate was seven months but 122 months in the treated group. Even the 20 per cent poor responders in this group lived twice longer than the control (placebo) group patients.

    Vitamin C, at much higher dosages than the conservative doctor is preferred to 60mg a day, will continue to excite other doctors and their patient alike. If, indeed, Vitamin C has a hand in the formation of kidney stones as some readers of this column reported last week, it may simply be a case of an “accessory after the fact”. The solution to such stones, therefore, has to be found at the roots. After all, don’t people who do not take Vitamin C develop kidney stones?