Burn your calories or else they will burn you alive, Professor warns Tanzanians
Head of Tanzania Diabetes Association Professor Andrew Swai speaks at the Mwananchi Thought Leadership Forum. Photo | Anthony Siame
What you need to know:
Professor Swai, who heads Tanzania Diabetes Association, reminded the society that when people exercise, the calories they have consumed get burnt and used up by the body, if not, they accumulate and lead to diseases that should have been avoided.
Dar es Salaam. When you eat foods that contain more calories, or more sugar, make sure you exercise, a medical specialist, Professor Andrew Swai said as he detailed how lifestyles contribute to ill-health.
Professor Swai, who heads Tanzania Diabetes Association, reminded the society that when people exercise, the calories they have consumed get burnt and used up by the body, if not, they accumulate and lead to diseases that should have been avoided.
It's a simple science that could be ignored, but one that could protect life and save society from huge economic cost-Professor Swai explained during a well attended Mwananchi Leadership Durum in Dar es Salaam.
His warning comes at a time when over 34 percent of Tanzanian are reported to be dying from diseases related to how people live, more so, how they eat.
"People tend to turn natural foods into things that are not nutritious. Let's eat natural foods as they are. There is a tendency of people overcooking vegetables to an extent of destroying all nutrients in them. This is not right," says the Professor.
People suffering from diabetes, he said, may end up having their legs amputated just because they did not do basic things such as physical exercises and avoiding harmful use of alcohol and eventually suffered from the disease.
Ignoring such basic principles in our lifestyles, the professor says, makes non communicable diseases to continue rising.
He cited a study done in 1980 in Tanzania which showed that 1 percent of people in rural areas were diabetic. By 2012, the percent had risen to 9 percent for people in rural and urban areas. And now, he says, over 26 of Tanzanians have high blood pressure.
Bad diet, is what the Director of Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Dr Julius Mwaiselage believes now people should watch.
"In the good old days, people used to walk, eat natural foods but now times have changed. People in rural areas eat junk foods, just as in the urban areas. There is a pressing need to get the bottom of the challenges related to this nutrition transition," says Dr Mwaiselage.
