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Eating foods wrapped in cellophane, preserving fruits with carbide, eating cow skin roasted with tyres and siting boreholes close to soak-away pits are among habits that pose greats risks to Nigerians’ life expectancy, experts have said.
Average life expectancy in the country today is at 54.5, according to World Health Organisation figures, with cases of sudden death on the increase.
According to the experts who spoke to BDSUNDAY on different occasions, avoiding these bad habits may yet increase Nigerians’ chances of enjoying longer lives.
“Consumption of food items in sachets or wraps exposed to sun at over 28 degree Celsius is poisonous and is responsible for many cases of kidney and liver failure among Nigerians,” Ifeanacho Azih, a biochemist and managing director, Destiny Laboratories, told BDSUNDAY in a telephone interview.
Audu Ogbeh, minister of agriculture and rural development, corroborates this view, adding that foods wrapped nylon are not healthy because they are poisonous when heated to a certain percentage. This, he said, is responsible for the incessant cases of cancer and damaging of vital organs witnessed in the country at present.
“Pure water in the sun is poison. We just showcased a stainless grinding machine here in the ministry for grinding tomatoes and other food items to avoid injecting metal objects into the food substances to avoid damaging vital organs,” he said in a recent interview.
Citing examples, the minister said that moin-moin wrapped in nylon is poisonous as the cellophane contains large dosage of toxins that do not naturally exist in the traditional leaves that was hitherto used in wrapping the delicacy made from beans.
“The moin-moin leaf is disappearing slowly and we just brought some from Ondo and planted them in a wet area here in Abuja. We are hoping to see it mature and will encourage people to even cultivate it to earn money,” he stated.
Ogbe quoted some scientists to have said that microwaving foods is bad, but added that there was yet no scientific evidence on that.
Doyin Odubanjo, a public health expert, said eating cow skin (ponmo) roasted with tyre, as well as eating suya, is a habit that people should not engage in too often.
“We need to watch out for the content of the smoke itself and impact on our food. All the smoke we are talking about will only settle on it, it is not something that will go inside and stay in it,” Odubanjo said.
According to Azih, roasting ponmo using tyres can be cancerous. He advises that to be on the safe side, the ponmo should be cooked above the normal temperature.
“The pressure cooking should be above the normal 100-140 degree Celsius of boiling, but when it is cooked with normal 100 degree Celsius, it may not be able to destroy infections which will go on to battle the body system,” he said.
Azih further warned that Nigerians who preserve bananas, oranges, plantains and other fruit with carbide stand the risk of catching dangerous ailments.
Another habit that constitutes grave health hazards, according to the experts, is building soak-away pits close to boreholes, thereby exposing drinking water to contamination.
“If a borehole is too close to a soak-away, there must be a leakage,” said Taiwo Ajayi, a professor of Geology at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
Based on this, Ajayi recommended a distance of 10 metres from the borehole, away from the septic tank.
John Owo, CEO, Cooha Water Technologies Limited, said the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) as well as civil engineers recommend a distance of 10 metres (33 feet) between a borehole and a septic tank.
“Sometimes the situation can change in an instance where we have a cavity due to issues in the ground, where there is a mixture of the water from the soak-away trying to penetrate the borehole,” Owo said.
To stay safe, the experts say the recommended standard distance should be respected.
Siting of power-generating sets close to homes, the experts say, also easily leads to the inhalation of carbon monoxide and can kill within minutes.
“The effect of smoke is irritant, which can cause redness of the eyes and runny nose. Siting generators close to the house makes patients inhale carbon monoxide, which can be poisonous and can lead to death if not attended to immediately,” said Michelle Dania, a respiratory doctor at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
“Generator close to the house also leads to noise pollution, which can cause poor sleep. Noise can also affect hearing in the long term,” said Dania.
Odubanjo agrees, adding that not having a good sleep could lead to many other health hazards, such as developing hypertension over time.
“Smoke from the generator oftentimes draws our attention when it kills people, i.e., when people go to bed and a generator is close to the window and just pours all its fumes into the room. But that is for the short term. In the long term, that smoke is also dangerous to health. Basically, it is dangerous gas that is coming out of it. You shouldn’t even have it in confined places; there must be outlet for the gas to go out and be able to spread in the atmosphere,” he said.
