By Rotimi Idris, Adebayo Adenrele
A public health expert, Dr Francis Fagbule, has raised alarm over how excessive intake of sugar sweetened beverages increase the number of diabetes patients in Nigeria.
Fagbule who is advocating for increase taxation on sugar sweetened beverages lamented the prevalence of the life threatening disease in the country, saying only deliberate control of the sugar contents in beverages and allied products can save the situation.
The public health expert said this on Thursday while featuring on a live TV show on the topic, “policies and tax on sugar, beverage and food”.
His words, “The WHO said if you are to add sugar to your body in a day, it should not be more than 4 cubes in a day.
“If people take a bottle of soft drink, you have added 12 already and if they take another one, that’s another increase and it causes problem to the body system”.