Features
Eating ourselves to the grave
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We eat to live, right? A good, balanced and healthy diet, we are told, keeps the doctor away. Food is the only natural and most effective medicine known to Man. The only adverse medical conditions that I know could cause death are bulimia and anorexia. I cook; and I love cooking. Being a vegetarian even makes it more imperative for me to be mindful of what I eat. As a result I frequent the market for my groceries.
What I see in the market these days gives me the creeps. I have taken my time to figure out how some of the foodstuffs we buy are treated, and my findings reveal an astonishing array of ignorance and downright evil intent from some of the traders in our markets.
Let me deal with the easy consumables. In order to maximise profits some traders resort to mixing groundnut paste with cassava powder, locally called kokonte. This gives a bigger volume to the paste and the customer is none the wiser. Assuming you were a diabetic who must avoid starch at all costs, what do you think this will do to your health? Avocado seed is chopped into little bits, dried, ground and mixed with powdered pepper. I am told avocado seed contains medicinal properties, but that cannot be the reason traders do this.
Palm oil is mixed with a toxic red dye to give it a more attractive red colour. Paradoxically, palm oil is one of the healthiest consumable vegetable oils in our parts. The others are groundnut oil, coconut oil, palm kernel oil and Shea butter oil. Similar colouring is done to salted lamb chunks (popularly called tolo-bifi) by the market women for whatever reasons known only to them. That I am a vegetarian does not mean I should not be concerned with what others consume. When my daughters were in the University, and because I had no right to impose my diet on them, I would go to the market to get condiments to prepare soups and stews for them.
Why do these traders do this? Is it because they are ignorant of the consequences of their actions or it is just a diabolic, evil intent to harm their clients/consumers? I once asked a woman who sold salted mutton chunks at the Kaneshie market in Accra if she ate the dyed meat at home. Her response was that because she sold it, it was like she had seen too much of it so it ceased to be a part of her diet.
I bought veal, mutton, crabs, salmon, tuna, tilapia and other smoked fish to cook for my children. Having been brought up near the coast, I knew good fish when I saw one. The only thing I excluded from the meals to my children was cow-hide (wele) because it has no nutritional value whatsoever. It was a delicacy for them though.
Let me take on the cooked food sellers briefly: Personally, I hardly eat from outside my home. However, occasionally I go for sinkafa-da-waakye (cooked rice and beans), but to save firewood, the women add too much of saltpeter (they call it kanwe) to soften the beans fast. Now, kenkey, another staple has joined the fray for saltpeter application, to the extent that kenkey has become so soft you can hardly leave it without refrigeration for a day without it going bad. Just a decade and a half ago I could leave kenkey on my dining table for a week,then heat it up for consumption. Kenkey cannot stay in the fridge for a week nowadays. It turns mouldy rather quickly.
Then is all manner of poisonous seasoning all over the place in the guise of spices. Potassium glutamate readily comes to mind. Some of these things add a false appetising aroma to the cooked food just to entice the consumer. Some of these come in the form of cubes, the favourite of lazy housewives. What has happened to the natural spices of garlic, onion/shallot, kpakposhitor, ginger, nutmeg and cloves blended together?
A health consultant tells me that excessive saltpeter consumption corrodes the mucus that lines the intestinal walls, thus slowing down movement of what we ingest down the digestive track. This, according to her, causes pain as the food rubs against the exposed walls of the intestine. Sadly, our health authorities are more interested in checking the health status of the food vendors not the quality of the food they sell to the public.
Do we blame the poor food vendor? Less than two decades ago Ghana flared Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) into the atmosphere. Then some smart alec decided we could encourage our countrymen to stop cutting down trees for firewood so they could use the LPG for domestic use instead. The reason was to prevent deforestation. Ghanaians bought into the idea and started patronising the LPG, realising it was cheaper than firewood. As I write, LPG is beyond the reach of the ordinary Ghanaian. Petroleum products have become the cash-cow for tax revenue.
Now, back to the traders. In fact, they can be forgiven for some of the stuff they sell. A few years ago I used to buy tomatoes in bulk, spread them out on newsprint on the floor and use them as and when I needed them. Right now, ripe tomatoes cannot last three days in the fridge. Same goes for many vegetables. You cannot keep okra for more than a day; it will develop dark blotches on the skin. Same goes with green pepper, cauliflower and many of the green leafy vegetables.
We used to keep yams for weeks, but if you take a tuber of yam now you have to ensure you cook the whole tuber else it gets rotten the very next day. Even if the rest is refrigerated it must be cooked within 48 hours. Our agriculture scientists are not telling us what is going on. Is anything wrong with the soil? Does this phenomenon have to do with the agro-chemicals used by the farmers? Why is no one telling us anything?
I saw a video clip of lettuce being washed with detergent. I watched another where what looked like spinach is soaked in some chemical solution so it would look fresh to the consumer. Mango, avocado, orange and papaya are doused with chemicals to speed up their ripening.
I hear there is an Authority on food and drugs. Can someone please tell me what they do? I ask because methinks we are eating ourselves to the grave and no one seems to care about us. Let me also ask if we have standards for the food we eat or the stuff we purchase? Do we have those? We are constantly admonished to eat healthy, yet the things we buy to put together as a meal give us cause for worry. Is it any wonder cases of diabetes are on the rise? Liver and kidney ailments are on the increase. What do the people we put in charge of our very existence do with statistics from our health facilities? Until they wake up to the reality and save us, shall we continue to eat ourselves to the grave?
By Dr. Akofa K. Segbefia
akofa45@yahoo.com
The average modern Gold Coaster born and bred in Sikaman is an adventurous creature. Go to any part of the world and you’ll find Ghanaman diligently slugging it out either in the snow or in hot sweltering weather, earning a decent living.
Go to Guinea and see Ghanaman in the garb of a herbalist, curing the sick of various ailments. He makes the Guinean understand that not all diseases are caused by James Lucifer alias Jimmy Satan. On the contrary, most diseases are caused by kooko which can even attack the human nose and turn it upside down.
That kooko is also the cause of poverty and the internal bleeding of personal back-pocket economies. And that kooko can be cured using the chemistry underlying Sikaman herbal medicine which has been blessed by the gods of Larteh.
And before Ghanaman starts dispensing his herbal concoctions, he must attract the passing crowd with some Sıkaman-originated choreography, akin to a combination of adowa and agbadza, such that the dancer can easily dislocate a shoulder and start crying for his mother.
When the crowd is enough to form a quorum, Ghanaman must perform magic as a side-attraction, and proceed to sell his drugs. The drugs are genuinely made from potent herbs which the Pharmacy Board of Sikaman says it has no confidence in. Believe me, Ghanaian herbalists are practising in neighbouring countries like Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Benin, while we are discouraging them from practising in Sikaman.
Go to Las Palmas and see Ghanaman as a fisherman. He sails on Korean-owned boats and is forced to eat garlic and raw tuna for radiant health. The garlic is also supposed to protect him against witches. But sometimes, he is not good bedfellows with some Korean crew members, and once in a while a fight breaks out.
The typical Korean is a Kung Fu expert and before displaying a golden dragon data. He must first terrify Ghanaman with a Korean dance which consists of wild arms and leg throwing. But Ghanaman is usually not daunted. Why has he been eating cancer kenkey all years without developing cancer? It mean is a superhuman capable of countering Kun fu side-kicks to the ribs.
Anyhow Ghanaman’s most potent arsenal lies in his fists. If he is a southpaw, it mean left fist is probably insured and can cause damage. When Ghanaman lands a cassava blow and it lands on a Korean chest, it has the effect of a cruise missile. If there is no ceasefire a funeral cannot be ruled out.
Greenland
Go to Alaska and find Ghanaman there. Greenland, Iceland, Brazil, Argentina, Madagascar, everywhere and you’ll find him. He has become an international citizen and is generally lauded for his hardwork, sincerity and honesty.
However, some bad nuts are also condemned and despised.
The world and all its parts and corners are for the human race, and anyone can choose to live anywhere and earn a decent living so long as he doesn’t misconduct himself or become a social misfit and a law unto himself.
Sıkaman for instance accepts foreigners, and we are so liberal that people just come in through our borders and we welcome them with the best palmwine in town and goat light soup. Who cares about passports and visas? Our hospitality is, as it were legendary.
So we have Liberians, Nigerians, Sierra Leoneans, Togolese, Europeans, Americans, Scandinavians and Koreans in Sikaman. And some of them have misinterpreted our overzealous accommodation to mean “foolishness” and are misconducting themselves.
The newspapers carry stories of some unscrupulous Nigerians stealing, defrauding and collaborating with their Sikaman counterparts to rob people. You’ll find some good and law-abiding Liberians around but some other Liberians are in the business of fraud, robbery, money printing, money doubling, anything criminal.
Ghanaian hospitality can no longer be extended to such people. I do not think Ghanaians will be treated kindly either, when they misbehave anywhere in the world. Those who come from outside with the intention of bringing down their evil deeds and to practise them here professionally must be getting ready because Ghanaians are getting fed up with the menace.
These days, you’ll find strange people following you as soon as you emerge from a bank. If you are not careful, they’ll wrestle your briefcase from you and speed away in a waiting taxi.
Someone was just saying that many foreign criminals are flocking to Ghana because in their countries, they are enable to operate either because they are being looked for by the police for offences committed or fear instant justice at the hands of mobs. Ghanaians, it is said, are humanitarian in dealing with criminals.
Well, in some African countries, a thief who is being chased runs directly to the police station in his own interest and begs the officer at the counter to lock him up. Otherwise he’ll be lynched or be burnt to death. In Ghana, it is the opposite. The thieves run far away from the cop stations.
The criminals must reform and stay peacefully in Sikaman or quit. No court case!
This article was first published on Saturday September 5, 1998
The human condition is defined by two absolute, biological bookends: the commencement of complex cellular animation and its ultimate, irreversible cessation.
For centuries, medicine treated life and death as strictly separate states. Today, modern pathology and molecular biology reveal a more profound truth: the mechanisms that allow us to live are the exact same mechanisms that dictate how we die.
Understanding this relationship is no longer just a philosophical pursuit. It is a clinical necessity for managing public health in the 21st century.
Part I: How we live – The mechanics of animation
At its core, biological life is a continuous, high-stakes battle against entropy (the natural tendency of systems to degrade into disorder). To maintain form, consciousness, and function, the human body relies on three fundamental pillars:
1. Cellular respiration and energy production
Every second of human life is powered by the conversion of oxygen and glucose into Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), the universal energy currency of our cells. This process occurs within the mitochondria.
Without a constant supply of ATP, the microscopic pumps that maintain electrical gradients across our cell membranes fail, causing cellular collapse within minutes.
2. Homeostasis: The balancing act
To survive, the internal environment of the body must remain incredibly stable, regardless of external chaos. This balancing act, known as homeostasis, regulates:
Blood pH: Strictly maintained between 7.35 and 7.45.
Core Temperature: Ideally kept around 37°C (98.6°F).
Electrolyte Balance: Precise ratios of sodium, potassium, and calcium that allow nerves to fire and muscles to contract.
3. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
The ANS acts as the invisible conductor of life, split into two complementary branches:
Part II: How we die – The path of cessation
Death is rarely a singular event; it is a progressive biological cascade. Whether caused by old age, chronic illness, or sudden trauma, the final pathways of mortality generally follow a predictable trajectory.
1. The cellular horizon: Senescence and Apoptosis
Every time a human cell divides, the protective caps at the ends of its chromosomes-telomeres-shorten. Eventually, telomeres become so depleted that the cell can no longer divide safely. It enters senescence (a state of permanent arrest) or triggers apoptosis (programmed cell death). This gradual, systemic loss of cellular renewal is the underlying engine of aging.
2. The clinical cascade of somatic death
When the body can no longer maintain homeostasis, somatic death (the death of the organism as a whole) begins. This occurs in a distinct sequence:
1
Clinical Death
Zero to four minutes
The heart stops pumping blood, and respiration ceases. While breathing and circulation have ended, the body’s tissues still contain residual oxygen and cellular energy reserves. At this stage, resuscitation is often still possible.
2
Brain Death (Infarction)
Four to six minutes
Deprived of fresh oxygenated blood, the brain’s highly sensitive neurons begin to starve. Lacking ATP, the brain cells lose their electrical charge, swell, and begin to burst. Permanent, irreversible neurological damage occurs within minutes.
3
Biological Death
Hours to days
The organs fail entirely. Without central control or blood flow, individual cells throughout the body consume their final energy reserves. Enzymes that once aided digestion begin to break down the body’s own tissues from the inside out, a process known as autolysis.
Part III: The modern collision of life and death
In the modern era, the boundary between how we live and how we die has blurred. Historically, humanity died primarily from infectious diseases and acute trauma. Today, global mortality is dominated by non-communicable, chronic lifestyle diseases.
Modern Pathology: How we live (the cause) how we die (the result)
Cardiovascular disease, chronic stress, poor diet, and lack of sleep keep the sympathetic nervous system hyper-activated, damaging blood vessels .Occlusion of coronary arteries leads to myocardial infarction (heart attack) or ischemic stroke.
Metabolic syndrome over nutrition and physical inactivity overwhelm cellular mitochondria, leading to systemic insulin resistance. Multi-organ failure, chronic kidney disease, and severe vascular complications.
Neurodegenerative Disorders Chronic systemic inflammation and sleep deprivation prevent the brain from clearing metabolic waste. Gradual loss of synaptic connections, leading to dementia and the eventual loss of basic autonomic functions.
Conclusion: The unified theory of health
Ultimately, how we live directly shapes the path of how we die. The micro-choices of daily existence-how we manage emotional stress, the quality of our rest, our communal connections, and our nutrition-either preserve the integrity of our homeostatic systems or accelerate their decline.
True medical advancement is shifting away from merely extending the final, frail stages of biological death. Instead, the focus is turning toward optimising our living years-ensuring that the intricate, beautiful machinery of human animation runs smoothly until its natural, quiet conclusion.
By Robert Ekow Grimmond-Thompson
