By; ISAAC ODEH, Kaduna
A Nigerian Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Toxicology, Ebenezer Olatunde Farombi, has identified local food substances that can prevent diabetes, hypertension, cancer, liver and kidney diseases as well as prolong life.
This was even as he said that, the surest and fastest way to stop cancer and other chronic diseases in Nigeria is through the adoption of chemoprevention, which he described as a “pharmacological intervention with specific
nutrients, phytochemicals or supplements to suppress or reverse progression of chronic diseases such as cancer.”
He however, called on governments to formulate policies that will encourage Nigerians to practice chemoprevention, which he said increases life span of individual by delaying mortality and decreases incidence of diseases like cancer.
Professor Farombi who is a Fellow, Academy of Toxicological Sciences (FATS), USA, how disclosed essential food substances Nigerians should take, while delivering a keynote address to the 43rd Annual Conference of the West African Society for Pharmacology (Kaduna 2022), held at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Kaduna State University.
Speaking to the conference theme; ‘Mitigating Mediators of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation: A Fulcrum in the Pharmacotherapy of Diseases’, Professor Farombi said, “as human beings, we inhale a lot of damaging substances and take in contaminated stuffs, which can one way or the other damage the system and cause diseases.”
He, however, advised Nigerians to take certain foods that can counteract and work against some of those toxic substances they take, identifying the food substances; ginger, turmeric, bitter leaf and bitter cola, among several antioxidants.
Professor Farombi who is on the University of Ibadan, said, “Antioxidants are just agents that are present in most of the food substances that we take especially fruits and vegetables. And the role of antioxidants in the systems is more or less to prevent diseases, cancer, liver disease, heart diseases, cardiovascular diseases and all sorts of things. That is exactly what antioxidants do to our body.
“The theme of the conference is actually to see what and what we can do as human beings to prevent the diseases that people have. Like I said, diabetes, liver, cancer, neurological diseases, brain disease and all sorts of things, how do we prevent them?
“The whole idea is to make people to consume food substances that one way or the other can prevent these diseases I mentioned. That is is actually the main theme of this conference. We are supposed to take agents like ginger, agents like turmeric, agents like bitter leaf, agents like bitter cola. These are agents that can prolong life and prevent diseases that many people have,” he said.
Professor Farombi, who is also a Foundation Fellow, Academy of Medicine Specialties of Nigeria however, challenges researchers in the area of pharmacology and biomedical sciences, to prosecute more intelligent and rewarding researches in that particular field.
In their separate remarks, the President West African Society for Pharmacology, Professor Ching Poh and Chairman Local Organizing Committee, Professor Ben. Ahmed Chindo said the Conference theme was carefully coined to be X-rayed by erudite scholars, to provide insights into the modulation of mediators of inflammation and oxidative stress as a pivot in achieving results in drug management of diseases.
