By Dr Nkemjika Umerah – Nutritionist

Recently, there are high incident of sudden deaths in our society which were previously rare. In Africa, sudden death is always attributed to poison by “supposed enemies”. Scientifically, the major cause of sudden death is oxidative stress which is a risk factor to metabolic syndrome.

Stress is the resultant effect of pressure or threat or it may be seen as any changes that causes physical, emotional or psychological strain. When the exposure to psychological stress becomes persistence it leads to increased risk of metabolic syndrome.

What is metabolic syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome is a public health problem that is responsible for a growing number of premature deaths throughout the World. It could also be regarded as a condition that predisposes one to coronary heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes which are stress induced. It is the leading cause of death in the Western World due to their lifestyle and food choices (convenience and processed foods).

African has a unique and peculiar diet originating from farm and is prepared in its original form. In recent time, our diet have deteriorated because we tend to imitate the Western diet thereby neglecting our ancient diet hence prone to the Western diseases.

Plant foods in addition to nutrients, contain other constituents which are phytochemicals, antioxidant, anti-nutrients and toxicants. Anti-nutrient are chemical components of plant foods that inhibit the absorption of nutrients examples phytate, oxalate, trypsin inhibitors etc. Toxins are the chemical components of plant foods that affect the host example saponin. Studies shows that both anti-nutrient and toxins can be reduced through fermentation, malting, boiling etc.

On the other hand, phytochemicals are chemical components of foods that have health benefits examples terpene, flavonoids, phenol etc while antioxidant are chemical compounds that eliminate oxidative stress in biological system example vitamin C, vitamin E, lycopene, carotenoids etc.

Antioxidant are scavengers of free radicals from the body cells and prevent the damage caused by oxidation (reactive oxygen species). Oxidation is caused by oxygen entering the biological system.

Promoting desirable food behaviour and nutritional practice is the key to achieving optimum nutritional status and a healthy lifestyle. This can be achieved through intentional and increased consumption of foods rich in phytochemicals and antioxidants which are capable of reducing reactive oxygen species (oxidative stress).

Majority of our indigenous foods are rich in antioxidants like pigeon pea, fruits and vegetables, among others

Dr. Nkemjika Umerah is a lecturer in the Department of Food Science and Technology, ESUT. Email: [email protected];