Humans have evolved all manner of lifestyle and dietary habits for improved wellbeing and longevity. That’s mostly a positive trend, as research shows a correlation between physical activity, wholesome nutrition and good health. Nutrition, as even experts will concede can however, be tricky and as many people around the world including Nigerians adopt novel, so-called healthy dietary habits, it is good to examine the facts a little more carefully. While some of these diets are outright fads, others do seem to hold some nutritive or medicinal potential, but this is where we need to pay attention.

Although there is extensive research pointing to the potential cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antibacterial, and other health preserving benefits of some so-called superfoods, as well as glowing consumer reviews on the internet, the story is a long ways off from comprehensive.

First, is the bothersome issue of dosage; already, there is some indication that excessive intake of some types of ‘superfoods’ can have potentially deleterious health effects ranging from inhibition of iron absorption, hepatotoxic and nephrotoxic effects, amongst others. A critical look at the scientific literature provides a crucial problem: in all the myriad forms in which these components are consumed, it is difficult to determine and regulate ‘dose’.

It is bothersome that only a few of the studies reporting potential health benefits have used randomized, placebo-controlled trials, the gold standard to determine whether or not treatments work. Without randomization, hidden biases can lead to misleading results, which means those studies are not sufficiently rigorous, and are certainly, not conclusive. More importantly, most of the available research have been conducted on Hispanics, Asians and Caucasians, not Africans. There might be meaningful disparities in documented side effects, response to interactions among functional or pharmaceutical compounds or other interactions. Cohort studies that can, based on our genetic and lifestyle peculiarities determine how we react to these interventions are required before we can reliably adopt consumption of ‘super foods’ as an acceptable health preservation or management strategy.

Regarding consumption for disease prevention, I recommend careful consumption (possibly incorporated reasonably into a well-balanced, varied diet) under the supervision/guidance of a doctor. Now will be a good time to point out that as Nigerians, we do not have that luxury- access to doctors. Infrastructural collapse is one problem, but there are so few, overworked doctors. According to the Nigerian Medical Association, there are 42 000 doctors in Nigeria; 75 000 were registered with the organization as of last year, but 33, 000 have since left the country. The latest figures indicate that there are around 200 million of us, which means that there are 42, 000 doctors available to 200 million people! The math is extremely depressing and we are very far from fulfilling the expert recommendation of one doctor to 600 persons. In the time since I started looking into this, one theme is clear: access to healthcare is nightmarishly poor. Long, withering queues, administrative and bureaucratic complications and so many other steep bottlenecks has made decent healthcare inaccessible to the common person in Nigeria. These attendant stressors seem to be the most important driver of alternative/ayuverdic medicine in Nigeria. When people become ill or unwell they go to spiritual centers or turn to these alternative remedies.

The political inertia on this issue is particularly frustrating and many times when people engage me on the issue of national development, they say ‘oh Dara, so many people will die’. While I have never even remotely suggested any action or course that can incite violence or mass death, I assure you, already, Nigerians are dying needlessly, so I do not consider that argument valid. Government, business and economic elites have proven slow, ineffectual and mendacious in confronting this unraveling disaster, but it is time to insist on target structural reforms; some of which I have already explored in the past https://daraalegbeleye.com/2019/09/14/how-nigeria-can-mitigate-the-growing-threat-of-non-communicable-diseases-ncds/.

As for treatment, if you have been diagnosed with a chronic or degenerative disease, which requires management, I strongly recommend (based on all I have read and what medical doctors and nutritionists have told me), that as much as possible, you try to adhere to conventional medical and pharmaceutical prescriptions. Ginger, garlic, turmeric, efirin and the like, no matter how promising or effective they seem, as a sole treatment course, like in all cases of inconsistent adherence to therapeutic treatments render the patient vulnerable to complications or even unfortunately, death.

If your pursuit of this trend is rooted in skepticism of science or allure of the natural, I urge you to tread carefully and do some more to understand the potential short term and long term health impacts. I do not intend to suggest that these remedies are useless; suggesting so might in fact, be scientifically inaccurate. What I am saying is that we need improved healthcare delivery, tailored observational and clinical trials as well as comparative effectiveness research before we can confidently cite the potential health benefits of these types of food. Among other critical health reforms, we can explore avenues to boost our research capacity and environment; prioritizing health data collection, analysis and curation, as well as development of technological infrastructure.