Get Guardian on Google…Expert urges government to make healthy food affordable
Nigeria faces a multiple burden of malnutrition, a major public health challenge in low- and middle-income countries, including Nigeria, Professor of Human Nutrition at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State, Chinyere Akúdo Echendu, has said.
She identified food insecurity, poverty, inadequate maternal education, poor nutrition knowledge, poor sanitation and limited access to healthcare as major drivers of malnutrition. She also cited the growing consumption of processed and energy-dense foods that contain little nutritional value.
Echendu spoke while delivering the university’s 77th inaugural lecture, titled “Nutrition: Eating to Live in a Demanding Food Environment.”
She explained that the causes of malnutrition were shaped not only by individual food choices but also by the food environment in which people lived.
The lecture was presided over by Professor Damian Asawalam on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ursula Ngozi Akanwa, the university’s seventh vice-chancellor and its first female occupant of the office.
The inaugural lecturer said food inflation, insecurity, climate change, unsafe agricultural practices, aggressive marketing of cheap, energy-dense foods and cultural practices that deny women and children access to nutritious meals all contributed to the problem.
She stressed that achieving good nutrition in a challenging food environment was possible but required deliberate efforts by individuals, households, institutions and government.
According to her, households must plan, budget, grow, process, store and prepare food wisely, prioritising locally available, seasonal and diverse food items. Institutions, she added, must make healthy choices easier, while government must ensure that safe and nutritious food is available and affordable to Nigerians.
“When we eat to live rather than live to eat, we protect our health at every stage of life and honour the Giver of food,” she said.
Illustrating the economic difficulties facing households, Echendu disclosed that the cheapest healthy diet cost N1,589 per adult daily in April 2026.
She said this meant that a worker earning the monthly national minimum wage of N70,000 would spend about two-thirds of the salary feeding one adult and more than three times the monthly wage feeding a family of five.
“In such an environment, eating to live is not a slogan but a daily struggle,” she said.
Multiple malnutrition, she explained, refers to the simultaneous presence of different forms of malnutrition within an individual, household or population.
She noted that stunting, wasting and micronutrient deficiencies persisted alongside rising cases of overweight, obesity, hypertension, diabetes and other diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), sometimes within the same household.
Echendu outlined recommendations for individuals and households, communities, religious organisations, schools, government, regulatory agencies, universities and researchers to address the challenge.
For individuals and households, she recommended eating varied and balanced meals daily, with half of every plate containing vegetables and fruits, a quarter comprising whole grains or starchy staples and the remaining quarter made up of protein. She also advised using cooking oil sparingly.
She urged Nigerians to combine locally available cereals and legumes, including rice and beans, maize and pigeon pea, or acha and groundnut, explaining that such combinations provided affordable, good-quality protein.
Fish, eggs and lean meat, she added, should be included whenever affordable, particularly in the diets of children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers.
Addressing communities, religious organisations and schools, Echendu called for an end to food taboos and cultural practices that deny women and children access to nutritious foods such as eggs, meat, fish and snails.
She also advocated nutrition education, meal planning, food budgeting and food safety training in schools and antenatal clinics. She stressed the importance of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding until children are two years old.
On government policies and regulation, the nutrition expert urged authorities to make food affordability a national priority and review the minimum wage against the cost of a healthy diet.
She also called for targeted social protection programmes and agricultural input support for poor households and smallholder farmers.
Other recommendations included restoring security in farming communities and supporting displaced farmers to return to their farmlands.
She urged the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and state regulatory agencies to strengthen enforcement against food adulteration, unsafe pesticide use, the misuse of calcium carbide for fruit ripening and excessive preservatives.
She further advocated routine food testing, front-of-pack warning labels, restrictions on marketing unhealthy foods to children and enforcement of salt-reduction targets for seasoning cubes and processed foods.
Specifically addressing MOUAU, the 77th inaugural lecturer recommended that the university should lead by example by establishing a healthy food environment on campus.
“This means safe drinking water, healthy and hygienic food vendors with regular microbial checks, and breastfeeding spaces for staff, following the healthy food environment checklist as presented in this lecture,” she said.
She also urged universities and researchers to expand studies on indigenous foods, particularly their glycaemic index, nutrient bioavailability and shelf life.
She recommended scaling up promising cereal-legume products in partnership with small businesses and incorporating research findings into Nigeria’s food composition tables.
Echendu further proposed regular health and nutrition seminars on campus to raise awareness of the risk factors, warning signs, symptoms and management of various non-communicable diseases.
She suggested that medical doctors at the university’s health centre should lead the proposed awareness programmes to promote healthier lifestyles and improve understanding of diet-related illnesses.
The central message of the lecture was that tackling malnutrition requires more than individual dietary choices. It demands coordinated action by households, communities, institutions, researchers and government to make nutritious food safe, accessible and affordable.
