“Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine
be your food.”
– Hippocrates (460 – 370BC), Greek Doctor.
Audu Ogbeh, agriculture minister, sometime ago
in a piece published by a national daily titled, ‘Nigeria , Global Standard In Food Production And Trade,’ wrote “What you eat, if you eat well, will determine
your state of health and your longevity as a human being.
Unfortunately, most of the time nowadays, we
are actually eating poison because of the way we handle our food production. From the seed we cultivate, to the fertilizer we use, to the chemical we spray,
to the way we process the food, or even preserve the food, or package the food,
we are determining whether we are eating well or eating badly.”No doubt, we are what we eat! We are a reflection of what we daily take in as food and water.
To a large extent, a man’s health is
determined by his nutrition – nourished, undernourished or malnourished. The
reason is not farfetched.
The Greek physician, Hippocrates, who is
regarded as the ‘Father of Medicine,’ in 390 BC established the strong nexus
between food and medicine, and came up with the quote above.
Unarguably, of the three basic needs of man –
food, clothing and shelter, food is number one and the most important. Food is
the primary reason most people work.
Lack of it may not only cause health
challenges but also it is capable of spelling doom for a whole nation.
Communal clashes over land disputes in rural
areas are not just tussles for pride and supremacy, but an ultimate battle for
ownership of an unending source of food. In fact, lack or insufficiency of food in a country can lead to revolt and
unrest.
Food security is as important as life
security.
The nourishment we derive from the type of
food we take is a function of how these foods are produced, processed and
packaged.
As important as the food we take is to the
body for good health and survival, so also can we be endangering our lives with
this same food going by the processes involved in the preparation.
Wikipedia defines Nutrition as the science
that interprets the interaction of nutrients and other substances in food in
relation to maintenance, growth, reproduction, health and disease of an
organism.
It added that, the diet of an organism is what
it eats, which is largely determined by the availability and palatability of
foods.
For a good diet to be palatable, it must be
nutritious. Our foods get contaminated and poisoned in many ways by our own
farmers.
These ways include the crude ways of openly
drying cassava and fish (fresh and smoked) by the roadside, use of adulterated
fertilizers (mixture of kaolin and sharp sand), unsanitary processing
environment, use of rusty iron equipment, like locally fabricated pepper and
tomatoes grinding machines among others. Most of our foods pass through these processes, to mention a few and end up in
our bodies.
The culture of overcooking most of our foods
has saved us a lot from grave dangers these contaminated foods portend, it is
the reason some of those who consume these foods are not attacked by diseases.
Recently, the Director-General of National
Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Moji
Adeyeye warned Nigerians to avoid fruits ripened with Calcium Carbide.
She said consumption of such Carbide-ripened
fruits can cause organ failure, several diseases, including cancer and death.
Some unscrupulous farmers and traders hasten the ripening process of fruits to
meet high market demand for huge sales at the detriment of consumers.
She said, “Calcium carbide generally contains
impurities such as Arsenic, Lead particles, Phosphorus etc. that pose a number
of various health hazards.”
Fruits that are usually ripened by Calcium
Carbide include banana, cashew, mango, plantain, orange, grape and pawpaw.
Generally for plantains, it is advisable to
buy mature ones with all-green colouration and keep for some time in a covered
black container to allow ripen naturally for the yellow colouration to emerge. A food and safety expert with EU-funded United Nations Industrial Development
Organisation (UNIDO), John Tehinse, suggested three ways to recognize fruits
ripened with Calcium Carbide.
First, colour of fruits ripened with carbide
is not uniform, it has yellow and green patches unlike when it is ripened
naturally.
Secondly, texture of carbide-ripened fruits is
hard while the naturally-ripened one has a soft texture.
Thirdly, what follows natural ripening is
conversion of starch to sugar, therefore it is sweet to taste but artificially
ripened fruits are not sweet to taste.
Our friendly and nurturing foods and fruits
may become not only enemies but killer-foes if proper care and attention are
not paid to how they are processed.
It is expedient to say here that, we must
cultivate and maintain personal hygiene when dealing with foods especially. Fruits should be thoroughly washed under running water before consuming.
Fruits, which are important sources of many
nutrients and vitamins responsible for building the body’s immune system, may
end up damaging the whole body system if artificially ripened ones are
consumed.
Food should also be thoroughly cooked as well
too.
Precautionary measures should be taken to
ensure that our food and fruits, when consumed will not play the reverse role
of ‘enemies’ by attacking the body rather they will play the defensive role of
‘friends’ to the body.
If that food which is meant to take care of us
turns to harm us, then it is no longer food, it is poison.
*Ojewale wrote from Lagos .
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