A Professor of Nutrition and Lipid Metabolism at the University of Ibadan, Professor Kayode Solomon Adedapo has called on the government at both state and federal levels to increase budgetary allocation to health to restore primary, secondary, and tertiary care.
This, according to him, will enable easy and affordable access to health by the populace and allow the tertiary centres to be more focused on research and teaching endeavours.
He submitted that this would perhaps address the issue of late presentation of people with chronic diseases.
Professor Adedapo made the call while delivering the 539th inaugural lecture of the University of Ibadan on behalf of the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences.
His lecture was entitled “Elucidating the Fingerprints of Chronic Diseases: That Life May be Preserved.”
The professor stated that the human body is capable of supporting the owner for many years given the right environment and good nurture and that our life expectancy is a function of how well-adjusted we are to all the twists and turns in our environment.
According to Professor Adedapo, our diet, lifestyle, thought patterns, and psycho-emotional states all combine to define the ecology of our body.
He said that chronic diseases are ones in which the body’s immune system reacts or inflames in a way that lasts for a long time and is linked to lymphocytes and macrophages, the growth of blood vessels, fibrosis, and necrosis. He cited examples such as sickle cell anaemia, type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, arthritis, etc.
Professor Adedapo, however, said that the body is indeed capable of repairing itself provided the early warning signs are heeded and the immune system is competent in checking the body’s invasion. When the early warnings/symptoms such as pain, swelling, weight loss, etc, are ignored, the body fails to repair and moves from the state of ‘ease’ to ‘disease’.
The inaugural lecturer recommended dietary remedy through more uncooked food (fruits and vegetables), and the elimination of simple carbohydrates, white or brown sugar, refined flour products, fried foods, animal milk and food additives produced with monosodium glutamate.
He also recommended other remedies that are useful to decrease the toxicity of the body to pave the way for recovery so that life may be preserved. He emphasized detoxification using purified water, a balanced diet, mild to moderate exercise, green teas, supplements, and fasting, among other methods.
Professor Adedapo also recommended the replacement of fizzy drinks with freshly squeezed alternatives such as carrot juice, tomato juice, watermelon juice, cucumber juice, beetroot juice, and green vegetable juices.
