NUTRITIONISTS CHARGE FG TO ADDRESS MALNUTRITION

Senior Advisor, Global Alliance on Improved Nutrition, Dr. Tina Van den Briel, has called on the Federal Government to implement policies and programmes that will address malnutrition among children and mothers in the country.

Van den Briel made this call at the 43rd conference of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, in Calabar, where stakeholders gathered to discuss the evidence, implications and priority actions for improved nutrition in Nigeria, based on the recently released Lancet Series report on nutrition.

A global report by The Lancet, in May, estimated that about 10 million children in Nigeria were stunted. In the study, Nigeria was also the second country with the highest population of malnourished children in the world after India.

Van den Breil noted that these figures reiterate the need for Nigerian government to have high level political champions who would fight for better nutrition for women and children.

She said it was high time that FG translated its commitment on policy papers to substantial budgetary allocation to tackle malnutrition.

She said, “If you look at Nigeria, it is one of the 34 countries with 90 per cent global burden of malnutrition.  In this country you have 10 million children who are still stunted. To improve child nutrition, maternal nutrition is the entry point. We need better integration of nutrition specific and sensitive interventions.”

To improve the nutritional status of Nigerians, Unilever Nutrition and Health Manager for West Africa, Dr. Victor Ajieroh stated that food manufacturing companies in the country have a crucial role to play by making nutrients fortified food available to the public.

Ajieroh said private food companies must continue to support the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in the promotion of dietary diversification, consumption of bio-fortified foods and other nutrition-sensitive interventions.

Meanwhile, the West and Central Africa regional coordinator and Senior Advisor, International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders, Dr. John Egbuta, called for the quick establishment of the Nutrition Council of Nigeria.

Egbuta said apart from strengthening nutritional activities by government agencies, development partners and the private sector, the council, when established, would be charged with the enforcement of the national legislation on mandatory food fortification with iron, folic acid, zinc, vitamin A and iodine.

AMAZING FACTS AND FIGURES ON WORLD HUNGER.

1.      842 million people in the world do not have enough to eat. This number has fallen by 156 million since 1990. 

2.  The vast majority of hungry people (827 million) live in developing countries, where 14.3 percent of the population is undernourished. 

3.      Asia has the largest share of the world's hungry people (some 552 million) but the trend is downward. 

4.   If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million.
   

5.  Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five - 3.1 million children each year.
   

6.  One out of six children -- roughly 100 million -- in developing countries is underweight.
   

7.      One in four of the world's children are stunted. In developing countries the proportion can rise to one in three.
   

8.      80 percent of the world's stunted children live in just 20 countries.
   

9.  66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone.
   

10.    WFP calculates that US$3.2 billion is needed per year to reach all 66 million hungry school-age children.

Source: World Food Programme (WFP).
  

NAFDAC Uncovers New Strategy Used By Fake Products Manufacturers

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Wednesday in Abuja said it had uncovered the new strategy of producers of fake products in Nigeria.

The Director of Special Duties with the agency, Mr Abubakar Jimoh, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), that the agency would intensify efforts to track down the counterfeiters and curb their illicit activities.

“The new strategy now is people are importing not even big containers, but packs that are already printed abroad and they are stuffing in anything they want to stuff in the packs.

“The containers are already manufactured abroad, empty containers and packs, done beautifully, printed well there.

“They just stuff anything they want to, that is the new dimension now.

“So you do not see people now like in the past bringing it whole, over there everything is tough there and they have to start bringing in big consignments.

“You don’t see the containers well loaded, as they now know that the prying eyes of NAFDAC and the Customs and other security agents at the port are watching and it is becoming apparently difficult because we tighten up the noose round them.

“So, now they bring in small packs, they make it flat.

“Somebody can bring millions of packs already flattened and they arrange it well and come here and come and stuff it and we are cracking down on them.’’

The director gave the assurance that the agency was doing everything possible to ensure that it safe guards the health of Nigerians.

Jimoh called on the citizens to collaborate with the agency by reporting activities of counterfeiters and their hide outs.

RISK OF ALCOHOL ON WOMEN

In recent years the use of alcoholic beverages has increased. And this has reduced the margin between male and female drinkers.

We now have more women from different culture consuming alcohol for various reasons. While most of them still manage to drink responsibly, alcohol pose a higher risk to women, who are more vulnerable to alcohol's harmful effects. Women are generally adviced to drink less because their bodies can’t process alcohol as well as men’s.

There are a few reasons for this:

• The average woman weighs less than the average man. This means she has less tissue to absorb alcohol.
• Women have a higher ratio of fat to water than men and so they’re less able to dilute alcohol within the body. It’s why women will tend to have a higher concentration of alcohol in their blood than men after drinking the same amount.
•  Alcohol stays in a women’s system longer before being metabolised (processed) than it does in a man’s. This is because women generally have lower levels of alcohol dehydrogenase (AHD) the chemical that metabolises alcohol in the liver.

 So after a man and woman of the same weight drink the same amount of alcohol, the woman’s blood alcohol concentration will tend to be higher, putting her at greater risk for harm. Other biological differences, including hormones, may contribute as well.
 Women are also more likely to abuse alcohol and other substances in order to self-medicate problems such as depression, anxiety, and stress, or to cope with emotional difficulties.

Some of the major risks women are exposed to are:

Sexual Abuse

Most women who are drunk are reported to have been raped or sexually assaulted.

Affects Fertility

Women trying to have babies are advised to stay off alcohol. Alcohol can disrupt a woman's menstrual cycle and reduce her chances of conceiving.

Physical Looks

Alcohol intake interfares with the normal sleep process, dehydrates your body, deprives the skin of certain vitamins and nutrients. After drinking, you have tired eyes, bad skin, weight etc. all these make you look unattractive.
Try taking a break from alcohol and see how you look and feel.
 
Liver Damage

Women who drink are more likely to develop alcoholic hepatitis (liver inflammation) than men who drink the same amount of alcohol. Alcoholic hepatitis can lead to cirrhosis.

Heart Disease

Chronic heavy drinking is a leading cause of heart disease. Among heavy drinkers, women are more susceptible to alcoholrelated heart disease than men, even though women drink less alcohol over a lifetime than men.

Breast Cancer

Women who consume about one drink per day have a 10 percent higher chance of developing breast cancer than women who do not drink at all. That risk rises another 10 percent for every extra drink they have per day.
Drinking alcohol can increase your risk of several types of cancer, including liver, bowel, breast, mouth, oesophageal cancer (food pipe) and laryngeal cancer (voice box).

Pregnancy

Any drinking during pregnancy is risky. A pregnant woman who drinks heavily puts her fetus at risk for learning and behavioral problems and abnormal facial features. Even moderate drinking during pregnancy can cause problems. Drinking during pregnancy also may increase the risk for preterm labor.


Women should start reducing their alcohol intake by
Give alcohol free days
Stop using alcohol as a means of relaxation
Know what you are drinking

Meanwhile these category of women are advised not to drink alcohol at all
  Anyone under age 21
  Anyone who takes medications that can interact negatively with alcohol
  Anyone who is pregnant or trying to conceive

HEALTH HAZARD OF MICROWAVE OVEN

                               

 
                                            HAZARD OF MICROWAVE ON WAVE

1. Microwaved foods lose 60 ~ 90% of their nutritional value and it also accelerates the structural disintegration of food.

2. Microwaving creates cancer-causing agents within milk and cereals.

3. Microwaving alters elemental food-substances, causing digestive disorders.

4. Microwaving alters food chemistry which can lead to malfunctions in the lymphatic system and degeneration of the body’s ability to protect itself against cancerous growths.

5. Microwaved foods lead to a higher percentage of cancerous cells in the bloodstream.

6. Microwaving altered the breakdown of elemental substances when raw, cooked, or frozen vegetables were exposed for even a very short time and free radicals were formed.

7. Microwaved foods caused stomach and intestinal cancerous growths, a general degeneration of peripheral cellular tissues, and a gradual breakdown of the digestive and excretive systems in a statistically high percentage of people.

8. Microwaved foods lowered the body’s ability of the body to utilize B-complex vitamins, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotropics.

9. The microwave field next to a microwave oven caused a slew of health problems as well.

10. Heating prepared meats in a microwave sufficiently for human consumption created:

* d-Nitrosodiethanolamine (a well-known cancer-causing agent)

* Destabilization of active protein biomolecular compounds

* Creation of a binding effect to radioactivity in the atmosphere.

* Creation of cancer-causing agents within protein-hydrosylate compounds in milk and cereal grains.

11. Microwave emissions also caused alteration in the catabolic (breakdown) behaviour of glucoside – and galactoside – elements within frozen fruits when thawed in this way.

12. Microwaves altered catabolic behavior of plant-alkaloids when raw, cooked or frozen vegetables were exposed for even very short periods.

13. Cancer-causing free radicals were formed within certain trace-mineral molecular formations in plant substances, especially in raw root vegetables.

14. Due to chemical alterations within food substances, malfunctions occurred in the lymphatic system, causing degeneration of the immune systems’ capacity to protect itself against cancerous growth.

15. The unstable catabolism of micro-waved foods altered their elemental food substances, leading to disorders in the digestive system.

16. Those ingesting micro-waved foods showed a statistically higher incidence of stomach and intestinal cancers, plus a general degeneration of peripheral cellular tissues with a gradual breakdown of digestive and excretory system function.

17. Microwave exposure caused significant decreases in the nutritional value of all foods studied, particularly:

* A decrease in the bioavailability of B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotrophics

* Destruction of the nutritional value of nucleoproteins in meats

* Lowering of the metabolic activity of alkaloids, glucosides, galactosides and nitrilosides (all basic plant substances in fruits and vegetables)

* Marked acceleration of structural disintegration in all foods.


 Safety tips for the operation of microwave ovens

Follow the manufacturer's instructions for operating procedures and safety precautions. Any misuse of the oven may result in personal injury.
As mentioned above, persons with modern pacemakers should not experience difficulty when near a microwave that is in good working condition. However, if you have concerns or notice symptoms (e.g., dizziness or discomfort), move away from the microwave immediately and consult with your doctor.
Check to see that door seal and inside surfaces of door and oven cavity are clean after each use.
Repair or replace any microwave that is not in good working condition.
Repairs should only be done by a qualified service person.
Do not use the microwave if the door does not close (e.g., is bent, warped or damaged in any way).
Do not disable or by-pass any safety locks.
Do not insert an object through an opening or around the door seal.
Safety tips for the maintenance of microwave ovens include:

Take special care to ensure that no damage occurs to the part of the oven making contact with the door or door seals.
Repairs should only be done by a qualified service person.
Do not by-pass the door interlocks.
Safety tips for the repair and testing of microwave ovens and their components include:

Only qualified service personnel should attempt repairs and/or testing of microwave ovens and their components.
Service personnel should be aware of any risk associated with exposure to microwave energy when performing tests or repairs.
Ensure that the adjustment of applied voltages, replacement of the microwave power generating component, dismantling of oven components, and refitting of waveguides are done only by persons who have been specifically trained for such tasks. Do not test a microwave power generating component without an appropriate load connected to its output. The power generated must never be allowed to radiate freely into occupied areas.

ABACHA (AFRICAN SALAD) RESPONSIBLE FOR CHOLERA OUTBREAK IN LAGOS

A food vendor of the popular african salad also known as Abacha has been fingered as the primary source of comtamination of the cholera case in lagos. The reports of cholera outbreak are from the Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area of Lagos.

The suspect has been arrested and samples of her food preparation has been taken to the lab for analysis. 80% of the victims with cholera symptoms are believed to have consumed Abacha from the suspect.

Cholera is an acute contagious bacterial disease that is characterized by severe form of sudden onset of profuse painless watery stools, nausea and profuse vomiting.

Cholera should be suspected in any person who develops diarrhoea with or without vomiting, weakness, restlessness, irritability, dry mucous membrane, low blood pressure, leg cramps, excessive loss of body fluids (dehydration) or dies from frequent stooling, hence, adequate measures should be taken in order to reduce the risk of contracting the disease.

Meanwhile Laboratory analyses gave isolated evidence that water in the area contained pathogens such as salmonella, streptococci and other bacteria capable of causing severe diarrhoea such as that witnessed. The Government are looking at treating the water in the area.

The  Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris confirmed there have been 13 cases of the disease while people are dead. And provided numbers to call in his ministry for assistance in suspected cases of outbreak (08023169485).