Cassava bread and diabetes

Available evidence does not support the erroneous belief that cassava bread is not healthy for consumption. Some people have even linked cassava bread with diabetes. This clarification becomes necessary against the backdrop of the purported rejection by the House of Representatives of a bill seeking to mandate bakers to make cassava flour part of the ingredients for making bread. I was wondering why the House would take such decision, knowing that Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava, added with the fact that the produce, which has the potential to earn thousands of Nigerians significant income, is not fully exploited.

Diabetes is a global disease and, at present, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has substantial data on it. It is noteworthy that Nigeria is not one of the countries with high prevalence, and not even among the top ten countries that will record high prevalence by 2030, according to a research report conducted by Sarah Wild, Gojka Rojlic, et al (2004), which was administered on WHO member countries. India, China, USA, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, Bangladesh, Japan, Philippines and Egypt are countries that, by 2030, will have between 7 million and 79 million people diagnosed as having diabetes. Coincidentally, these countries are the leading wheat producers in the world.

Another medical indicator which is now being used to dissuade people from embracing cassava bread is the Glycemic Index (GI). The GI measures how much each gram of available carbohydrate raises a person’s glucose level following the consumption of the food, and it is measured in 100. GI low range falls within 55 and below, medium within 56 and 69, while 70 and above represents the high GI range.

According to the rumour making the rounds, which though has been dispelled by Akinwunmi Adesina, the minister of Agriculture and Rural development, cassava has a very high GI, meaning cassava bread consumption exposes the consumer to the risk of diabetes. However, from available facts, the GI of cassava is moderate, which does not constitute danger to consumers; and cassava flour has a GI of 59.34, which puts it in the medium GI range. On the other hand, white bread, most white rice, corn flakes, cereals, glucose, maltose and white potato are classified as having very high GI, according to Wikipedia, while yam flour was found by a group of researchers from the University of Ibadan to have a GI of 49.81.

Furthermore, it is instructive that cassava bread is a staple food in Central and South America, where it is popularly known as Pão de Queijo in Brazil, Pan de Yuca in Ecuador, Pan de Bono in Colombia, and Ereba in Belize.

As a country with high number of poor people, cassava offers the nation a way out of poverty if it is optimally utilised. At present, not much value is being added to cassava, which explains why Nigeria does not earn much foreign exchange from it. Many people heaved a sigh of relief when the Agric minister rolled out his transformation programme to include the production of cassava flour and subsequent inclusion of same in bread making.

There is no doubt that those who have controlled the flour market in Nigeria might not like the idea that a new set of businessmen will challenge their authority by introducing a product that will reduce their market share. And with the way the bill was purportedly rejected, it is clear that some very powerful people do not want the cassava bread project to see the light of the day. Hence, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture needs to be ahead of these forces if truly the project is important to it. That is why Nigerians must be constantly orientated so as not to kill this brilliant idea.

Nigerians are the ones that consume cassava, including cassava flour. Therefore, they should be the focus of the orientation programme of the federal government. In this regard, I will suggest a three-phase orientation programme. The FG should focus on the supply and demand sides in the form of town hall meetings, starting with those in Lagos, Benue, Kano and Port Harcourt. It should, as a matter of urgency, design a sample production plan that will practically show huge disparity between the cost per unit of producing cassava and that of producing wheat bread of the same quantity. The supply side involves the farmers that produce cassava flour, who should be educated on the need to embrace the highest hygienic practices; while the demand side relates to the bakers, their distributors and consumers. By so doing, the bakers will rest assured that the cassava project aims to enhance their profitability.

This becomes even more necessary now that an increase in fuel price and the new electricity tariff regime will impact negatively on the ability of the bakers to make profit. Since not all the costs incurred by firms can be transferred to the final consumers, especially as many Nigerians are very poor, there is the need to cut the cost of input, and cassava flour provides a better way of doing this.

The next thing is to mount rigorous campaigns on the radio and television, while the last stage is to conduct a field research with a view to gathering new set of information that will help government sustain the project. Eventually, passing the cassava bill will only be a thing of formality.