By Ayodele Abere
The future of disease management has been anchored on the development and use of natural products combined with medical methods and other health science and biotechnology techniques, such as diet and nutrition, genetic engineering and phytopharmacy.
A Professor of Medical Biochemistry, Olayinka Anthony Awoyinka, stated this while delivering the 80th Inaugural Lecture of the Ekiti State University Ado-Ekiti, held at the main auditorium of the Institution in Ado-Ekiti, the State capital.
Speaking on the topic; EXPLORING UNDERUTILIZED LOCAL FIBRE: PANACEA FOR ECONOMICAL AND HEALTHY FOODS, explained that positive results obtained from his studies with other scientists proved that well controlled diets with use of probiotics and prebiotics from neglected underutilized local plants can serve as a major non-pharmacologic option for the treatment of non-communicable metabolic disorder like Obesity, Diabetes and Hypertension, adding that Obesity triggers a good number of comorbidities associated with hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes as well as other conditions.
“It is widely known that Obesity is affected by numerous factors like diet, lifestyle and genetic background, and recently, it has been shown to be related to gut microbiotas which has been implicated in energy homeostasis and metabolic functions”.
According to him, Nigeria and other African countries need to do more to properly identify, recognize and position underutilized plant food in disease control strategies. Saying that countries like China and India have done so to commercialize the bioactive compounds derived from their medicinal food plants as nautraceuticals.
The Inaugural Lecturer, as a starategy therefore recommended collaboration between Research Institutes and Higher Institutions to explore the underutilized plants with adequate funding to carry out the research.
Present at the lecture were family, friends, colleagues, traditional ruler and well-wishers from different walks of life.