QUESTION TIME ON THE TALK ON DIET AND THE MIDDLE AGED

MD OF RHEMA LTD, OPERA ACCRA CENTRAL (ALSO ONE OF THE CHURCH DEACONS)

RHEMA MD

PEMEF DISTRICT LEADER, ACHIMOTA DISTRICT (ELDER DOMTEY)

Q AND A SECTION at the talk on diet and the middle aged at the PEMEF WEEK at ACHIMOTA CENTRAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF PENTECOST == check also my facebook page

PERSON 1
Q1. A young man stays in the house with this 77-year old man who has cultivated moringa tree in the backyard. He, the young man, has been observing that from time to time, the old man has been harvesting the leaves of the plant, dries and makes certain drinkable meals from. Now his question is what does this moringa tree or for that matter, the leaf and what about it attracts the old man to it almost all his life?

ANSWER:
Moringa is one of the best naturally occurring substances ever given to mankind to solve our problems. It is very good for our health especially if it is pure and unadulterated. It reduces BP and pulse and reduces unhealthy fats deposits in our bodies. it also improves our immunity. So this has contributed to the old man living that long and continuing to bubble with youthful exuberance, and him continuing to adhere to this tree and its leaves.

Q 2. How is the moringa leaf powder mixed for our health benefits especially in the case of this old man?

ANSWER:
First and foremost, for anyone to go near commercial moringa product, one should endeavor to see that in fact, the sign or an emblem of approval from the FOOD AND DRUGS BOARD is on the container or the canister. If you don't see it, irrespective of the enticing name given to the product dump it in the refuse dump. Now, in the case of the old man cultivating the tree in its own house, it is mandatory that only pure moringa leaves are harvested, washed, dried thoroughly, ground to powder and put in a clean, dry canister. This done, to administer the moringa leaf powder, your BP and pulse should be checked before. Take a small spoonful of the moringa powder and then put it in an average jug or cup of water boiled for about 1 minute. Mix thoroughly and drink as tea. At the onset, let the frequency be once daily. The next morning check your BP and pulse, you will realize there is a drop in both BP and pulse. If you are obese too, regular intake of the moringa leaf powder will help you slim



PERSON 2

Q 3. Another person asks about whether pregnant women can take moringa leaf powder tea!

ANSWER:
Even though the moringa leaf powder is good, it won't be good for the pregnant woman because for a pregnant woman, they are too or more entities whose needs are physiologically interconnected. The pregnant woman needs to eat well for her self and the fetus (i). Nothing should be taken that should be suppressing the BP and pulse unduly. There is however a pregnancy condition called pregnancy induced hypertension or a more serious co-morbidity, pre-eclampsia or an even more serious one, eclampsia. For pregnant when with those kinds of problems, they should visit their OBSTETRICIANS or doctors regularly at the agreed frequency of attendance. All such patients should as a matter of precaution desist from taking moringa and leave their medical management directly with their doctors


PERSON 3


Q 4. Is it good to mix heavy meals and fruits. He is wondering whether the fruits wouldn't cause any fermentation of the food in our bodies and cause any disease.

ANSWER
From the time we get up from bed till we recline to sleep at night, we should take very good note of our nutrition. We should eat light meals in the mornings, heavy meals in the afternoons and between light and heavy meals in the evenings. Now it will be good to intersperse the 3 main eating times with ingestion of good fruits e.g. banana, apples, grapes, guavas, etc. This in so doing helps us to get balanced diet and become well nourished and healthy. Now, the question here is whether it is good to mix fruits with heavy meals. If the heavy meals are taken in the afternoon and fruits also taken, then I think, there is no problem. But ideally, we should be in the habit of eating the fruits as part of desserts, in between meals.




QUESTION 5. For those dealing in plastics used in covering food along the streets, is it good? Are there no health hazards. Should we patronize such foods at all?

ANSWER

Under hygienic conditions and with approval of food and drugs board, where necessary, for foods packaged in plastic receptacles or coverings, there is no problem in patronizing them. However when those foods are not in any sheltered environment, and kept under the sun, certain chemicals may leach into the foods and may be harmful to the prospective consumers over time. So we should be in the habit of  avoiding those food items  parceled in plastics displayed in the heat of the sun. However, if the foods are kept in a clean sheltered environment, then why not, we can patronize.



PERSON 4, A CHURCH DEACONESS
Q 6. A church women's leader called deaconess asks that when they were in northern Ghana, their families used to be mixing moringa in soups. They were also mixing agushie and other vegetable delicacies in the soups. She asks whether it is good and at the level of consumption, whether there is adverse reaction to the consumer?



ANSWER:
It is natural and coincidental to note that people taking particular food ingredients over time have realized that taking certain food supplements should be in moderation because they have the notion that too much of everything is bad. With this I am saying that a lot or our people in the hinterlands are used taken food supplements in moderation; that explains why to some extent they have been living for very very long number of years before dying.


PERSON 5, CHURCH ELDER

Q 7. How regular should Medical check ups be and is it good to have regular checkups?

ANSWER
Regular medical check-ups are extremely important; in that certain diseases may be diagnosed by accident and sometimes the timely treatment of such problems may go a long way to to prolong human life. For women in their late 20s and beyond, they be do pelvic scans and uterine fibroids may be diagnosed; for those with hypertension ECG may diagnose MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION or other complications of hypertension, etc.

Ideally, checks every 3-6 months will be good.

Now after certain checkups and diagnoses of certain chronic diseases are made, there will be the need to heed to the advice of your doctor. He or she will tell you for instance, for your HYPERTENSION or diabetes, every month come for review and new set of medicines. Sometimes if the BP is so high, he may say come for review in 2 weeks time.



Q8. Sometimes for some of us depending on the nature of our occupations, we may be in the habit of eating late at night. How do we solve such problems. If we should eat late at night, at which ideal time should it be?
Should we eat late at night, what do we do?


ANSWER:
Jobs of today sometimes release us late to recline in our beds. We can also not go to sleep at night on empty stomachs. Now, when we are caught in this web of eat, late at night, the solution is simple. First and foremost, the food should not be heavy and after eating too we should be strolling the hall or be perambulating between corners of the house just to while away time to help digest food at least after 30-45 minutes or more before we finally sleep. If we don't hang out before sleep, the food may hardly digest, we have constipation, we develop gastritis and if HELICOBACTER PYLORI infection sets in, then we may get full blown peptic ulcer.

However as much as we can prevent eating late at night let's try and prevent it.



Q9.Drinking sachet water, is it good; if it is not good what do we do?


ANSWER
Drinking sachet water in itself is not bad. However, before drinking the water, we should try and inspect and see that the GHANA FOOD AND DRUGS BOARD sticker is on and that we watch the end that the seller held out the sachet to us so that we hold a different end. Chances are that the seller may contaminate the sachet at his or her end. If the seller's hands are contaminated by SALMONELLA typhi then we may as a consequence be heading towards developing enteric fever or typhoid.





PERSON 6

Q10.Some Ghanaians mix food supplements foreign with local and repackage and sell to us. It good? Should we patronize such goods.


ANSWER
Ii is true. A lot of people have been parading through our streets with concoctions or admixtures in canisters with strange names and that have the effrontery to mount on vehicles to disturb our ears. Majority of such charlatans have no FDB inscriptions. Now, once you are fully sure after inspecting the product and you don't see any sign or emblem of the FDB, never buy the product. When I was in the medical school, level 700 we were doing ward rounds when we got to a patient with distended abdomen, tender right hypogastrium, yellow eyes, etc. Such a person hard liver failure. Now, listen very clearly, when we were trying to inquire whether he had taken anything that might have precipitate the disease, everything proved futile - he was not HEPATITIS B or C positive, no history of alcohol intake or drug abuse, etc. The gentleman however said he was taken a certain concoction he had bought from the drug store and that after taken the concoction for some time, the condition started.The consultants and the student doc tors were of the strongest view that the herbal mixture had caused the liver failure and that the more he was taking it ignorantly, the more the condition was getting worse. What this means is the concoction was containing hepatotoxins (chemicals very dangerous to the liver). So a word to the wise is enough


PERSON 7
Q11. High and low blood pressure, which is dangerous? What are the symptoms of hypertension? How is hypotension treated?


ANSWER
A. Both hypertension and hypotension could be potentially dangerous. However, one is more dangerous than the other. For somebody with hypertension who reports early if the BP is high for instance 160/90 and beyond, sometimes at the hospital or clinic, sub-lingual nifedipine is given and that brings the BP down. For stroke patients, BP is not be brought down too fast otherwise for hemorrhagic strokes, bleeding episodes may be worsened and the patient may die. For someone with hypotension (BP 90-100/50), iv infusions may be given. Other co-morbid conditions should be checked (e.g. diabetes - blood sugar, etc) so that infusions rather don't worsen patients condition. Hypotensive patients may fall into coma and administration of iv infusions may be a frightful exercise because by so doing we may be overloading the lungs. For such people it may be difficult to manage. For hypertensive patients with cerebral complications, iv dexamethasone is part of their treatment regimen and this dries out the fluid over load in the brain. From these analyses, I think it is more dangerous to be hypotensive than hypertensive

B. SYMPTOMS OF HYPERTENSION
= Symptomless
= frontal headaches => occipital headaches
= chest pains (angina pectoris, ischaemic attacks, myocardial infarction)
= right heart failure symptoms (e.g. swelling of feet and sometimes lower extremities, abdominal swelling and discomfort)
= left heart failure symptoms (e.g. breathlessness - with exertion and on lying down, intermittent breathlessness at night, wheezing, cough productive of frothy sputum which might sometimes be blood stained, fatigue)
= stroke
= etc



C. Hypotension management: Right iv fluids and other medications deemed fit by the doctor


PERON 8
Q12. Is it good to be taking oranges at night?

ANSWER
It is not good to be eating oranges at night; the reason being that orange is an acidic fruit and if you are an ulcer patient, frequent ingestion of orange may make it worse especially at night when there may be poor digestion of food and absorption of the nutrients.

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This Q AND A SECTION at the talk on diet and the middle aged at the PEMEF WEEK at ACHIMOTA CENTRAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF PENTECOST. Talk was organized on 17th FEBRUARY 2011 by MD OF RHEMA LTD, OPERA, ACCRA.