By Chioma Obinna
When Amaka Chukwudi suffered a mild stroke at 38, she was stunned. She wasn’t overweight. She didn’t smoke or drink. But like many Nigerians, her daily meals were laced with seasoning cubes, instant noodles, and fast food.
What she didn’t know until her diagnosis was that these foods were slowly killing her and her family. “I thought it was stress,” she told Vanguard, clutching a bag of low-sodium groceries now recommended by her doctor. “But the doctor said my blood pressure was sky-high. I was eating my way into an early grave.” Amaka’s case is a growing reality in Nigeria, where experts warn that hidden salt in everyday meals is fueling a silent but deadly health crisis.
In a chat with an American-trained public health physician, Dr. Ekiyor Joseph, the country is witnessing a dangerous shift. “We are not just what we eat. We are dying from what we eat,” he said.
Joseph explained that while sodium the main component of salt is vital for body function, it becomes toxic in excess. “Over years of consistent high salt intake, blood pressure rises.
When it stays high, it becomes systemic hypertension—a disease that is not curable and drives heart failure, stroke, and kidney failure,” he noted.
Hypertension now affects over 32.5 percent of Nigerian adults, up from 8.6% in 1995. The age-standardised rate stands at 38.1 percent, and alarmingly, more young Nigerians in their 30s and 40s are suffering strokes. “People are choosing between buying medication and feeding their families. It’s unsustainable,” Joseph said.
Joseph tied this crisis to the explosion of processed foods in Nigerian diets. “The danger lies not just in the salt people sprinkle on meals, but in hidden sodium found in popular foods instant noodles, meat pies, chips, canned soups, sauces, and seasoning cubes,” he explained. In 2021 alone, non-communicable diseases caused 43 million deaths globally 75 percent of all non-pandemic-related deaths—with 82 percent of premature deaths (before age 70) occurring in low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria. Beyond the health toll, he warned of a worsening economic burden.
“Reduced productivity and early deaths are shrinking Nigeria’s GDP and overstretching our fragile healthcare system.”
Joseph called for universal health coverage, stricter sodium policies, reformulation of processed foods, and sustained public education. “That one teaspoon less could be the difference between life and death,” he stressed.
Speaking, Bukola Olukemi Odele, Programme Officer for Cardiovascular Health at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), said most Nigerians consume 7–10 grams of salt daily almost double the World Health Organisation’s recommended 5 grams. “These foods are aggressively marketed as convenient, but they are dangerous to health,” she said.
In 2025, Nigeria launched its National Sodium Reduction Guidelines to cut salt intake by 30 percent by 2030, starting with a 15 percent reduction between 2026 and 2028. The country is also working toward Front-of-Pack Warning Labelling (FOPL) to clearly show salt, sugar, and fat content using visual symbols.
“Consumers can immediately tell if a product is unhealthy. It also pressures companies to reformulate,” Odele said. But she warned of resistance from the food industry, which uses misinformation and marketing tactics to delay regulation.
Speaking, the Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, urged journalists to confront the crisis by exposing industry interference and holding both corporations and government accountable.
Speaking during a two-day media training in Lagos, he said, “Nigerians are now falling sick not from hunger, but from what they eat.”
He accused food companies of tactics similar to Big Tobacco, including funding biased research, lobbying against policy, and promoting bouillon cubes as healthy despite salt content. Your framing determines who is held responsible. Your investigations influence policy.
“The media must be a powerful force in the fight for health equity and consumer protection,’ he said.
Experts warned that while Amaka’s wake-up call came after a health scare, for millions of others, the alarm may come too late unless urgent action is taken.
What you can do to reduce salt Intake
*Limit the use of seasoning cubes and processed sauces
*Choose fresh foods over packaged or fast foods
*Check food labels for sodium content
*Reduce eating out and cook at home more often
*Seek healthier alternatives and flavour with herbs
*Educate yourself—knowledge is your first defence
*WHO recommends less than 5 grams of salt per day (one level teaspoon);
Nigerians consume average of 7–10 grams daily
The post How salt addiction is driving Nigeria’s health woes appeared first on Vanguard News.
