An expert in Fruit Science, Prof. Isaac Aiyelaagbe, has urged Nigerians to take more interest in the consumption of fruits and vegetables to enhance healthy living and mental health.
Aiyelaagbe, a professor at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, and Coordinator, West African Network for Organic Research and Training, noted that as people age, the efficiency of their bodies in extracting nutrients and utilising them decline.
The don, therefore, argued that people needed to increase their intake of fresh fruits and vegetables rather than the starchy staples.
According to him, “As a nation, we are paying a high price for malnutrition; If a man is not properly nourished, even if he is seated at his work station, he is not operating at full potential and not earning his pay. Nutrition has a strong link with mental health and physical health. If I have go to the hospital for four days every month, due to ill-health, what will be the long-term effect on the organisation or the company the person is working for.”
Identifying pineapple as one of the fruits aiding good nutrition, the university don said that the benefits include high content of Vitamin A, which aids good sight, Vitamin C, which aids healthy teeth and gums and redresses scurvy.
Other benefits, he said include tackling osteoporosis, a condition whereby human bones are deficient in calcium and become fragile.
While explaining what osteoporosis is, he said a person having the deficiency could just suddenly have his or her legs get broken without the application of any external force.
“You also have probably heard that people have had sudden heart attacks because of blo odclots . Pineapple contains some chemicals that if you eat it regularly, reduces the risk of such blood clots,” he said.
Other benefits from pineapple, according to him, include juice from pineapples, slices of solar dried pieces, which you can pop into your mouth just like candies, bromelain for tenderising meat and bran, which can befed to livestock.
Commenting on the commercial viability of pineapples, he noted that the market for pineapples was not saturated in Nigeria.
“We don’t even produce enough not to talk of exporting. Benin Republic produces too much and dumps quite a lot at Mile 12 in Lagos,” he said.
He, therefore, wished to see increased awareness and investments in exploiting the inherent benefits of the fruit as a commodity to be harnessed for food self-sufficiency, job creation and import substitution.
Aiyeelagbe decried the low level of investment in research in Nigeria, especially regarding hardware (equipment and infrastructure), stressing that technological success would not happen overnight except efforts were geared towards development oriented research.
