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By Lilian U. Okoro
Dr Mairo Mandara, the African Advisor of Sight and Life Foundation, an NGO, has reiterated commitment to supporting findings, studies and research toward improving nutritional values of foods consumed in Nigeria.
Mandara, who is also a health practitioner, spoke at a media engagement in Lagos on Thursday.
She said the main objective of the move would be to ensure that the nutrients in foods actually got absorbed in the body system after being consumed, to aid better nutrition and healthy wellbeing.
She explained that most of the foods commonly consumed usually did not have their nutrients bio-available for the body to use due to their anti nutrients contents such as Phytic acid.
She said, “Sight and life Foundation supports research, scientific evidences and tries to bring scientific evidences up to scale.
“We partner with organisations that bring scientific evidences up to scale in the interest of humans.
“Basically, our goal is to ensure that when we eat, that all the nutrients in the food are absorbed 100 per cent into the body and used, not wasted.
” This is because here, we eat a lot of whole cereals and legumes like maize, whole wheat, beans and others which have nutrients, but some of the nutrients like iron, zinc and calcium don’t get absorbed because there’s an anti nutrient called phytic acid in the food.
“So, what the phytase does is to degrade the phytic acid, unlock and release the micronutrients so the body can make use of it.”
According to her, the foundation looks at how to improve nutrition for human beings.
She highlighted that a research/study aimed at improving nutritional values of foods had been documented and would be shared among the regulatory agencies in Nigeria.
She listed the agencies to be the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and Dangote Foundation.
Mrs Lynda Ugwoke, a Food Technologist with Sight and Life Foundation, added that the studies aimed to encourage manufacturers to include phytase enzyme to process whole foods to reduce the phytic acid content.
According to her, another strategy of phytic acid reduction is through soaking and fermentation.
She encouraged the general public to consume fermented foods such as garri, fufu, masa and locally fermented products.
“All these are to ensure that the vitamins are there – the iron, the calcium, the zinc, and also protein availability are unleashed.
“So, in this meeting, we have in attendance the regulatory authorities in the nutrition space to share with them all the scientific findings,” she said.
According to her, the major takeaway from the meeting, is that, with the increasing poverty, with the ability of people to buy food decreasing, people can actually have maximum value of the food nutrient.
“This fight has offered us an opportunity to maximise the nutrients of the food we buy,” she said.(NAN)www.nannews.ng
Edited by Vivian Ihechu
