Nutrition
Asaba: The berry that makes everything sweet
Ghanaians have always been addicted to football and over the years the only thing that has changed about our passion for the game of football is our new found romance with football cooked in other countries.
We would even go to bed on an empty stomach when Asante Kotoko our favourite club lost a game. Over 35 years ago, we played counters ball and gutter-to-gutter with “socks ball”; anyone who has played socks ball before will tell you the menace associated with playing this game close to a well endowed gutter.
This was the time when GBC television had no competition and FM stations had not seen the light of day. At this time we only watched “German Football” on TV and we did not use any fancy names to describe it.
This was the era when asaba the miracle berry was common in Ghana. One of the homes where we played football had a huge asaba plant and many people benefited from eating asaba and porridge without the thought of adding sugar.
Fast-forward to 2020 and it seems the western world has recognised the benefits of asaba and is fast cashing in on it while we relegate it to the background and continue to import high calorie-zero nutrient refined sugar to the detriment of our health.
This is a plant that originated from West Africa, yet we have rejected it like many others. A few years ago I read about people cultivating asaba in the Western Region who were pleading for assistance to produce and market the product.
Today, asaba has been processed commercially into easy melt tablets, freshly frozen miracle berries, miracle fruit seed oil and is even the centre of attraction in fanciful “taste tripping parties thanks to the efforts of a company owned by a Ghanaian.
COVID-19 has definitely made us conscious about making healthy choices daily, of course many of us still prefer quick fixes so we have created booming industries overnight. This is an opportunity to really assess “super” foods such as cocoa, palm, coconut, moringa and many others and asaba can’t be left out.
Asaba is a small red fruit that contains a chemical that affects taste receptors in the tongue. It makes the tongue register sour taste as sweet taste.
In addition to making everything taste sweet, it is a very low calorie fruit and its effect on the tongue may last up to an hour. One whole hour of bliss.
As with many other plant products, we need to do more work on dosing and side-effects when taken in excess, but in many scenarios it may provide the miracle that its name suggests.
- Weight Control
- This product can make sugar-free desserts, tea, bitter cocoa and other beverages taste excellent. That is a step in the right direction to managing your weight.
- Managing Diabetes
- Asaba may not lower your blood sugar directly but it is helpful in eliminating high-calorie sweeteners and sugar from your diet that in the long run will be of benefit. Children with diabetes, for instance, who crave for sweetness could seek refuge in asaba. The watch word here is “moderation” at all times.
- Role in Chemotherapy
- You may know about the taste disturbances that may be associated with the treatment of cancer. Asaba may come to the rescue here since it will make food taste sweet and help avoid starvation and weight loss that often go hand in hand with cancer and its management.
- Managing Illnesses
- We all remember taking medication especially the syrups when we were much younger; some tasted horrible and how can one get well when you do not take the medication because of the terrible taste. Make medicine time enjoyable for kids with a little asaba. You will however need to be extra cautious here since children may associate that medicine with a great taste and reach out for it on their own. As always keep medicines out of the reach of children.
- Some illnesses such as malaria, reflux disease, depression etc may be associated with a “bitter” taste in the mouth and hence we avoid food to our detriment. The miracle berry taken in moderation can make this a thing of the past. Enjoy your meals, take the appropriate dose of your medication and get well quickly.
Asaba may be helpful to people who want to reduce their consumption of sugar and improve their lifestyle by making their diet healthier. Join the campaign to make asaba a common product in our shops and markets. Can asaba like cocoa become a cash crop? Asaba may not be a super food but it can serve as a vital component of a healthy lifestyle.
AS ALWAYS LAUGH OFTEN, ENSURE HYGIENE, WALK AND PRAY EVERYDAY AND REMEMBER IT’S A PRICELESS GIFT TO KNOW YOUR NUMBERS (blood sugar, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, BMI)
Dr Kojo Cobba Essel
Health Essentials Ltd/Mobissel/St. Andrews Clinic
(www.healthessentialsgh.com)
*Dr Essel is a Medical Doctor, holds an MBA and is ISSA certified in exercise therapy, fitness nutrition and corrective exercise.
Thought for the week – “Bitter Cocoa drink as a major component of your breakfast or dinner may help control your weight. Have a drop of Asaba before drinking and you have a winning combination.”
Reference:
- www.webmd.com
- Special Mention: Albion Mends who is extremely passionate about Asaba.
- www.miraburst.com
On the banks of the River Pra, Ama, a mother of three, points to the murky water flowing past her village. “We used to drink from this river. We used to fish here,” she says. “Now, even our crops die when we use it to water them.” Ama’s children rarely eat fish anymore, and vegetables from her once-fertile farm are scarce. Their daily meals now consist mostly of cassava and a little palm oil which is filling, but far from nutritious.
Ama’s story is not unique. Across Ghana’s mining communities, illegal small-scale mining, or galamsey, is robbing families of the very resources they need to eat well and stay healthy. The focus of public debate has often been on the destroyed forests, poisoned rivers, and billions lost in gold revenue. But beneath the surface lies a quieter tragedy: a nutrition crisis with lasting consequences for Ghana’s children.
With rivers poisoned by mercury and cyanide, farming and fishing have collapsed in many galamsey zones. Families that once relied on fish as a key source of protein now go without. Crops watered with polluted streams fail to thrive, while fertile cocoa and vegetable farms have been dug up and abandoned. With food production disrupted, prices climb, and poor households are forced to rely on cheap, starchy meals with little nutritional value.
The impact is already showing. Health workers in mining areas report higher cases of child stunting, anaemia among women, and underweight children compared to farming districts. Pregnant women face greater risks during childbirth, while children raised on nutrient-poor diets struggle with growth, learning, and long-term productivity.
The problem stretches far beyond the mining pits. When rivers like the Pra, Ankobra, and Offin are polluted, irrigation systems and fisheries downstream are also destroyed, threatening food supplies in entire regions. In the long run, galamsey doesn’t just damage land, it undermines Ghana’s fight against hunger, malnutrition, and poverty.
If Ghana is serious about protecting its people, tackling galamsey cannot be seen only as an environmental or economic battle. It must also be seen as a public health and nutrition emergency. Safeguarding rivers and farmland means safeguarding the right of every child to eat a balanced diet and grow to their full potential.
Ama’s children, and thousands like them, deserve more than poisoned water and barren fields. They deserve safe food, clean water, and a future free from malnutrition. Ending galamsey is not just about saving the land; it is about saving Ghana’s nutritional future and the next generation.
We call on government to deploy multi-sector response teams that include health and agriculture officials, establish mobile nutrition clinics in affected areas, and mandate nutrition impact assessments for all mining permits. We urge traditional authorities and assemblies to enforce local bylaws and support community-led river monitoring systems.
We challenge citizens to demand quarterly transparency reports on galamsey enforcement and nutrition indicators from their MPs and district assemblies and we encourage the media to continue investigating the financial networks behind illegal mining. Ghana has the laws and resources, what’s missing is the political courage to enforce them. Ama’s village, and countless others like it, cannot wait any longer.
Feature Article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition Project
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Ghana’s fight against malnutrition is undermined not by a lack of knowledge, but by lack of accountability.
Nutrition experts and policymakers alike know what works: exclusive breastfeeding, micronutrient supplementation, food fortification, school feeding programs, and nutrition-sensitive agriculture.
Yet, programs stall, targets are missed, and resources are underfunded with little consequence for those responsible.
Who is responsible when exclusive breastfeeding stagnates below global targets? Who answers for the fact that nearly half of Ghanaian women suffer from anaemia despite repeated pledges to improve maternal nutrition? Who explains why stunting rates remain at 18 percent when the target was 15percent by 2025? Who ensures that Nutrition for Growth (N4G) commitments made at the international stage are translated into local budgets and services? Who accounts for nutrition budgets that fall short of the 2-3 percent allocation recommended for effective programming? Etc.
Accountability must be made non-negotiable. Parliament must demand annual nutrition accountability reports from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), tracking not only policy promises but also tangible outcomes.
The NDPC, as the apex planning body, must take the lead in monitoring nutrition indicators across all sectors and ensuring that district-level plans integrate nutrition targets.
Civil society must step up, using evidence and data to spotlight the gaps between rhetoric and reality. Tools such as nutrition scorecards and citizen report cards can empower communities to track progress and demand answers. Media outlets must treat nutrition as a governance issue, not just a health story buried in lifestyle pages.
District assemblies, as the frontline implementers of nutrition programmes, must be held accountable for translating national policies into community-level action. They should report regularly on the status of school feeding programmes, community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) services and local food security initiatives.
The public also has a role to play. Citizens must demand better interventions that addresses their nutritional needs, by asking their representatives what concrete steps have been taken to improve nutrition in their communities. Communities can use vox pops, community radio, and grassroots dialogues to hold leaders accountable. The Food Systems Transformation and Nutrition Security (FSTNS) Cross-Sectoral Planning Group (CSPG), led by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), which serves as Multi-Sectoral Platform for Food Security and Nutrition should serve as a coordination hub where stakeholders review progress and identify bottlenecks in real time.
International partners must not shy away from asking tough questions about financing gaps and delayed reforms. Accountability should have teeth, public hearings for nutrition budget performance, independent audits of feeding programmes and performance-based funding mechanisms that reward results, not just promises.
Countries like Rwanda have shown that strong political commitment backed by rigorous accountability mechanisms can dramatically reduce malnutrition rates. Ghana can learn from such examples, adapting successful models to our own context.
Without accountability, nutrition will remain a political talking point instead of a development reality. Ghana cannot afford empty commitments. Our children deserve measurable results, and our leaders must be held responsible for delivering them.
Feature Article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition Project
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https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
