Coronavirus Pandemic
SOME researchers of the Federal University of Technology, Akure ( FUTA), say consumption of some fruits and vegetables can help improve immune tolerance and response to the novel Coronavirus disease.
Ganiyu Oboh, a Professor of Food Biochemistry and Toxicology, who led the team, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) on Thursday in Akure.
The researchers, who mentioned African star apple-(Agbalumo-Cherry), guava and cashew, said the fruits had the highest radical scavenging ability and antioxidant property.
Oboh urged people who wanted to boost their immune system and fight off opportunistic infections to eat more of the three fruits.
He said it had been established that fruits and vegetables were rich in dietary sources of various immune-boosting natural chemicals .
According to him, vitamins and minerals, as well as non-nutrient phytochemicals, including carotenoids, polyphenol and flavonoids, flavones and flavanones, should be consumed more.
” Nigerians should cultivate the habit of eating fruits and vegetables to boost their immune system and fight off diseases as the world battles with the Coronavirus pandemic.
“The need to consume fruits and vegetables with the potential to boost the immune system, according to the team of researchers, has been supported by the fact that emerging data has shown that the Coronavirus disease fatality is dependent on some immune-related factors, especially age and comorbidities.
“The studies have also established that in many hard-hit countries, the aged (60 years and above) share the largest proportion of death rate.
“This can be associated with the fact that immune systems are generally weakened as ageing progresses.
“Furthermore, disease conditions such as cancer, kidney diseases, diabetes, hypertension and others, which inadvertently result in immuno suppression, have been classified as co-morbidity of COVID-19 disease, and often accelerate fatality in infected patients with such underlying conditions.
” In our findings, we rank these thirteen common fruits: banana, carrot, avocado pear , pineapple , pawpaw, guava ,tomatoes, African star apple ,watermelon, orange ,cashew, soursop , breadfruit, based on their antioxidant property,” he said.
According to Oboh, the team also reported that quercetin is present in all the fruits, while gallic acid, catechin, epicatechin, rutin, and chlorogenic acid can be found in other phenolic constituents in most of the fruits.
The professor said that the substances could have profound effects on cellular growth and differentiation, and were needed for the optimal functioning of the immune system.
He said their findings indicated that all the fruits exhibited high antioxidant property as exemplified by their radicals scavenging abilities.
Oboh urged Nigerians to also cultivate the habit of eating vegetables regularly because of their antioxidant property and health benefits.
He said that several studies had demonstrated that a high intake of fruits and vegetables could minimize systemic inflammation.
“However, whole fruits and vegetables score high as excellent immune boosters, it is important to properly lay out the facts in order for the general public to be better informed.
” It is important to be well informed on how various processing and culinary practices can influence the medicinal property of these foods in order to be able to explore them for their maximum benefits.
“Therefore, a balance must be reached between palatability, nutrition, health and body cells protection,” he explained.
According to him, studies have shown that sun-drying of green leafy vegetables, which is a popular practice in many homes in Nigeria as a way of preserving green leafy vegetables for future use, decreases vitamin C content.
He said that in the same manner, the processing methods of green leafy vegetables such as blanching and steam cooking had the same disadvantage of diminishing vitamin C content.
“It also reduces property and free radical scavenging ability and overall antioxidant activity of the green leafy vegetables,” he said.
He noted that while boosting the immune system through ´right´ consumption of fruits and vegetables could help improve immune tolerance and response to COVID-19, they were never absolute preventive or curative therapy.
“No current scientific evidence has suggested them as absolute preventive or curative therapy and as such, all other preventive and curative guidelines as prescribed by the relevant health authorities should be adhered to,” he added. (NAN)
– May 7, 2020 @ 16:05 GMT |
Tags: COVID -19: FUTA researchers lists fruits and vegetables that can boost immunity
