A private physiotherapist, Opeyemi Bakre, on Thursday in Lagos advised Nigerians currently staying at home not to consume excess sugar so as not to come down with joint pains, such as arthritis.
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Bakre, the founder of Pro-Health Community Physiotherapy in Ikeja, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that excess sugar in the body could cause obesity and diabetes among other sicknesses.
NAN reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had on April 13 during a nationwide broadcast announced that the lockdown in Lagos and Ogun as well as in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had been extended by another 14 days to contain COVID-19 pandemic.
The president announced the extension alongside other palliative that would cushion the effect it few hours to end of the initial one.
Bakre said: ” As we adhere to the directives of healthcare experts on social distancing and the stay-at-home order from the government, I advise the public to observe moderation in anything they eat.
“This must include their sugar consumption, as well as eating foodstuffs that contain natural sugar.
” Also, I will encourage the public to always eat balanced diets, including lots of fibres and drink enough water to encourage bowel movement.
“Not having a good bowel movement can cause pain in the lower back,” she said.
According to her, sugar is classified under carbohydrates.
She explained that once carbohydrate was put in the mouth and mixed with saliva, digestion would begin, then it would become glucose and remain in the bloodstream.
She said that the pancreas would then release insulin that would help to regulate blood glucose levels to prevent diabetes.
Bakre noted that excess blood glucose in the body is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles adding that when these levels rise, they could cause the body to release insulin and stress hormones.
“These in turn causes inflammation of the areas of the body with less blood circulation such as the joints and the bones.
“That is why the back/spine and the joints are mostly affected by the inflammatory process.
” In fact, this process has been found by research to be one of the leading causes of Rheumatoid Arthritis,” she said.
She described inflammation as the body’s go-to response when there is an injury or the body’s way of removing harmful substances including damaged cells.
The physiotherapist urged people to always look out for inflammatory processes when injuries occurred in their bodies.
She said that the signs could come in forms of pain, redness, warmth, swelling and loss of function; that is, not being able to use the injured part.
She said that there are two types of inflammation: the acute and the chronic adding that the acute occurs when the injury just occurs and disappears when the cause of injury is removed.
She said that the chronic inflammation could occur in response to other unwanted substances in the body, such as toxins from cigarette smoke or an excess of fat cells (especially fat in the belly area).
The physiotherapist, therefore, urged people to eat well and maintain good personal hygiene to boost their immunity and reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19.
She advised them to always engage in optimum physical activities to keep their hearts and lungs working well adding that there can be no good health without cardiopulmonary fitness.
She urged those who had no idea of what exercises that they could do at home to boost their health conditions to send mails to [email protected] for help.