A professor of biochemistry and molecular toxicology, Ebenezer Olatunde Farombi, has identified bitter leaf, ginger, turmeric and bitter cola, among antioxidant food substances that can prevent hypertension, cancer, diabetes, liver and kidney diseases and prolong life.
This was just as he stated that the surest and fastest way to stop cancer and other chronic diseases is through adoption of chemoprevention, which he described as a “pharmacological intervention with specific nutrients, phytochemicals or supplements to suppress or reverse progression of chronic diseases such as cancer.”
Speaking in a keynote address to the 43rd Annual Conference of the West African Society for Pharmacology (Kaduna 2022), at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Kaduna State University on Monday, Farombi, a Fellow, Academy of Toxicological Sciences (FATS), USA, urged government to formulate policies that will encourage Nigerians to practice chemoprevention, which he said delays mortality and decreases incidence of diseases like cancer, while increasing life span.
Speaking to the conference theme; “Mitigating Mediators of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation: A Fulcrum in the Pharmacotherapy of Diseases”, Prof. Farombi said, “as human beings, we inhale a lot of damaging substances and take in contaminated stuffs which can one way or the other damage the system and cause diseases. We need to take substances that can counteract and work against some of those toxic substances that we take”.
Farombi, who is of the University of Ibadan, said, “antioxidants are just agents that are present in most of the food substances that we take especially fruits and vegetables. And the role of antioxidants in the systems is more or less to prevent diseases; cancer, liver diseases, heart diseases, cardiovascular diseases and all sort of things. That is exactly what antioxidants do to our body.
“The theme of the conference is actually to see what and what we can do as human beings to prevent the diseases that people have. Diabetes, liver, cancer, neurological diseases, brain disease and all sort of things, how do we prevent them? The whole idea is to make people to consume food substances that one way or the other can prevent these diseases I mentioned. That is is actually the main theme of this conference.”
Professor Farombi, a Foundation Fellow, Academy of Medicine Specialties of Nigeria, however, challenge researchers in the area of pharmacology and biomedical sciences to prosecute more intelligent and rewarding researches in that particular field.
Speaking separately, President, West African Society for Pharmacology, Professor Ching Poh and Chairman Local Organising Committee, Professor Ben. Ahmed Chindo, said the Conference theme was carefully coined to be X-rayed by erudite scholars.
They said, it was also coined to provide insights into the modulation of mediators of inflammation and oxidative stress as a pivot in achieving results in drug management of diseases.
