Experts have advised Nigerians to engage in consistent physical activities as they help to prevent hypertension, diabetes, and cancer.
They spoke at a media conference themed; “Access to Diabetes Care; If Not Now, When?, organised by a pharmaceutical company, Mega Lifesciences, in line with this year’s World Diabetes Day in Lagos.
World Diabetes Day is celebrated globally every 14th of November.
One of the speakers at the event was a Professor of Endocrinology at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Olufemi Fasanmade. The don advised Nigerians to be more active, keep slim and fit as a way to remain healthy.
Prof Fasanmade said: “The first thing to do is to move; it’s very cheap.” He warned that sedentary activity is as deadly as smoking or drinking.
He advised people to take advantage of the step counter which is available on many smartphones and which measures the number of steps one takes daily.
Fasanmade said: “We should make about 10,000 steps per day to keep hypertension, diabetes, and cancer away. So you can do three in one; physical activity.”
The endocrinologist notes that only a small percentage of people who are diabetic manifest symptoms.
He listed some of the symptoms of the condition to include passing “plenty” of urine, poor vision, poor erection, poor stamina, poor obstetric history including miscarriages and stillbirth, and itching on the skin.
He advised people living with protruding tummies to “change your lifestyle. If you have a protruding tummy, you have a high risk of diabetes. Watch what you eat and drink. It is not poverty that makes a person look slim.”
While raising the alarm that diabetes can affect all age groups including children, the professor advised people to go for checkups, “The simple way to do this is to check your own blood sugar in a laboratory whether or not you have diabetes.”
Also speaking, Lifestyle Medicine Physician, Dr. Chinasa Amadi, said “With recent statistics predicting that one in 10 children born after the year 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes, there is no better time than today to begin advocacy.
She outlined some risk factors like unhealthy dietary habits, cigarettes, older age, physical inactivity, obesity, and family history of diabetes.
Amadi added: “We need to go back to the basics – plant-based foods, our local foods, cooked not canned and processed.”
With diabetes described as a chronic disease according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Diabetes Product Manager Mega Lifesciences, Ibukun Adetuyi cited that in 2019, diabetes was the ninth leading cause of death with an estimated 1.5 million deaths directly caused by diabetes.
She, therefore, urged Nigerians to take their health seriously. “According to WHO, a healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use are ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.”
Also, the Managing Director, Mega Lifesciences, Manesh Mehra, shared the vision of the firm – to take free screenings to communities and smaller towns across the nation to help them stay healthy.
Mehra said “We want to take medical outreach and quality education about diabetes and its complications and lifestyle. This way, we hope to grant them access and helping them take control of their health.”
