Malnutrition, reason for Nigeria’s increasing infant deaths —NSN president

President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN), Dr Bartholomew Brai has expresed worry on Nigeria’s high burden of malnutrition, a contributor to the nation’s high infant and under-five mortality rates.

Speaking at a press conference to herald the 47th annual general meeting and scientific conference of NSN in Ibadan, Dr Brai said Nigeria was currently faced with the triple burden of malnutrition, under-nutrition, over-nutrition and micronutrient deficiency.

According to him, 43 per cent of children are stunted, 11 per cent are wasted, and 31 per cent are underweight, while about 12 per cent are overweight.

Dr Brai stated that good nutrition helps children to grow well, promotes both economic and human development, adding “it has been documented that nutrition boosts national productivity by 11 per cent in Africa.”

The PSN president warned that the high prevalence of iodine deficiency disorders in Nigeria will lead to poor cognitive performance, iron deficiency anaemia that is a major cause of maternal mortality, and vitamin A deficiency.

He declared: “These conditions cumulate to a triple burden of malnutrition. Nigeria stands the risk of jeopardising its human capacity and economic growth if these problems are not properly addressed urgently.”

Dr Brai made a case for increased investment in nutrition to turn Nigeria’s fortune, adding that such an investment should change the attitude and behaviour of the populace towards healthy eating and lifestyle.

The expert, who declared that one dollar investment in nutrition has been shown to yield 16 per cent increase in our economic development, decried the proliferation of several “nutrition experts” who are giving misleading information to the public.

Dr Brai said: “they are asking everyone to stop eating wheat because of gluten. This is wrong because not everyone is sensitive to gluten. They say ‘do not eat wheat made in its swallow form’. The pastries, noodles, bread etc, which are all wheat-based are not considered. But we know the importance of wheat in the diet of every Nigerian.

“Also, people are told that in order to avoid diabetes, they should use honey instead of sugar. Sugar is sucrose while honey contains fructose and glucose. But at the end, they both go through the same metabolic process and the same problem people will end up facing.”

The PSN president, however, said that this year’s PSN scientific conference would be addressing many of these fads and fallacies as well as grey areas of controversies in nutrition among others so that they can adopt best practices to promote good nutrition, health and development at household, community and national levels.