Nigeria: Health implications of food insecurity

By Bilkisu Yahaya

Lack of food security does not just lead to malnutrition but can also lead to other bad vices in children, as food can be used to try and influence the behaviour in children, and bad behaviour is often rewarded by not giving a child enough food. As the saying goes, “A hungry man is an angry man”, and an angry person can go off away, which could be bad for a country like Nigeria —which is still developing.

With the current economy of Nigeria, the health and social status of the common Nigerians is in a state of compromise. Food is the fuel source of the body; ingested food undergoes metabolism to liberate energy required for vital activities the body needs; hence, lack of food or adequate food leads to disruption of the body’s metabolism, leading to health havoc such as wasting.

Malnutrition can be simply put as an abnormality of nutrients it can be further divided into undernutrition due to inadequacy of the right nutrients (1o) or the incapability of the body system to metabolize those nutrients (2o) and overnutrition which inconsequence is obesity and the former are Kwashoikor, marasmus and Marasmic which is commonly faced by most Nigerians due to lack of food security caused mostly by lack of good infrastructure and insurgency. This type of malnutrition hinders the growth and development of mostly children who are growing up.

Lack of food security does not just lead to malnutrition but can also lead to other bad vices in children, as food can be used to try and influence the behaviour in children, and bad behaviour is often rewarded by not giving a child enough food. As the saying goes, “A hungry man is an angry man”, and an angry person can go off away, which could be bad for a country like Nigeria —which is still developing.

In addition, the prevalence of malnutrition is food status, which is common in countries like Nigeria, where the father of a child is served food with meats or fish and gives the child without it. The child is the one with the most need because these meat and fish serve as a source of proteins which help tissue repair and grow. In some other countries like Jordan, male high status means that the male child receives more food than the female, which leads to the prevalence of malnutrition higher in the girl child than the male child. This clears the fact that food security is a major concern and should be given maximum concentration as it affects not just our health but our social character.

The other aspect of malnutrition (overnutrition) leads to obesity, which can not be overemphasized as the world just celebrated World Hypertension Day on the 17th of May. Obesity is due to the increase in the size and number of adipose tissue; this is caused by overeating; the body converts most of its glucose to fat for storage, which leads to fat being more accumulated in the blood, which leads to blood vessels dysfunction, increasing blood pressure which leads to Hypertension.

On a final note, the two classes of malnutrition must be looked into, and healthy food and lifestyle must be prioritized.

 Bilkisu Yahaya is a graduate of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS).