The President of Save Your Liver Foundation, Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, has urged the public to consume more of organic and local foods than processed.
He said recent research had established that processed food, self-mediation and pollution were causing damage to the gut, which was responsible for digesting and absorbing ingested nutrients, and excreting waste products of digestion.
Addressing journalists at a news conference in Accra, he said malfunctioning gut was the root cause of chronic diseases such as diabetes, autoimmune diseases, stroke, heart diseases, chronic kidney diseases, liver cirrhosis, Hepatitis, and prostate diseases.
According to him, gut impairment contribution to most lifestyle diseases was discovered in the year 2019, by scientists in the United States and The Netherlands.
However, further research into this new phenomenon was being carried on around the world, and so far, it had been established that the human body contained around 40 trillion bacteria, with most of them found in the gut, known as the gut microbiome.
Mr. Azongo added that an impaired gut often developed cracks or holes, allowing partially digested food and toxins to penetrate the tissues beneath it. “This may trigger inflammation and changes in the gut’s normal bacteria, and could lead to problems within the digestive tract and beyond,” he explained.
He added that gut impairment was a public health concern, and that the Foundation was ready to partner the Ghana Health Service to establish the Ghana Liver-Hepatitis Fund to implement Ghana’s response initiative on Hepatitis.
Mr. Azongo noted that the liver, which was the largest organ in the body, and strains the blood off toxics, also gets affected if the gut fails.
As a result, a leaky gut and weak liver had become the two medical red flags that needed special attention in public health.
He, therefore, urged the public to be conscious of what they eat, drink, and their environment.
