Kampalans warned of danger in junk foods

Danger lurks in fast foods, which Kampala residents are drawn to, Minister for Kampala Capital City and the Metropolitan Affairs, Minsa Kabanda has said.

“Everything that is processed, packaged or boxed is going to have sodium to preserve it and that’s where trouble starts from,” Kabanda says.

"The problem is that high-sodium diets are known to increase blood pressure which stresses your cardiovascular system," Kabanda adds while testing a resident's blood pressure at the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) medical camp.

Kabanda, who was working as one of the healthcare providers at a free medical care camp organised in Kamwokya, central division in Kampala on Sunday, said frequent junk food consumption can lead to hypertension and obesity.

Mariam Nakitenge chatting with a health worker during the KCCA free medical camp that was organised to treat vulnerable residents (Photo by Isaac Nuwagaba)

Junk foods, according to Kabanda include salty snacks, sweets, sweetened beverages and fast foods such as potato chips, rolex and chapatis prepared with cooking oil and sodas. According to her, if consumed often can cause abdominal obesity

“When taking junk foods which are mostly liked by the youth and socialites can increase the risk of general and abdominal obesity which can even escalate to high or low blood pressure in the long run,” she said.

Hundreds benefit from camp

At the medical camp that treated more than 700 vulnerable slum dwellers, it was found out that a third of the people tested were found to be overweight, obese and or hypertensive.

“Obese children are at increased risk of mortality and morbidity resulting from cardiovascular diseases in adulthood, but this becomes worse when there is lack of exercise,” Kabanda said.

She, however, offered some hope when she revealed that among those, only 25% of hypertensive cases are diagnosed and treated if patients seek early medical checkups or treatment in case a problem persists.

“In Kampala, too much TV advertising, attractive packaging especially fast foods products, and lack of parental awareness are major causes of junk consumption which has high saturated fat content, salts and sugars,” she added.

NCDs worrying health experts

Sarah Zalwango, a medical doctor at KCCA, said non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are posing a big challenge and are now number six of the top causes of morbidity in the city.

Zalwango outlined them as hypertension, diabetes and cancer saying: “Low salt intake, sedentary lifestyle, lack of physical exercises and lack of frequent medical checkups among town dwellers all fuel the dangers of contracting NCDs.

The medical camp offered a variety of health services, including outpatient services, dental services, cervical cancer and breast cancer screening, voluntary male circumcision, HIV/AIDS testing and counselling and voluntary guidance and counselling services.

KCCA has only eight health centres which are always crowded and overwhelmed with many patients.

“Sometimes we are hit by drug stockouts in our health facilities. So, a medical camp organised to attend to the vulnerable population becomes of great help to people,” Zalwango added.

Maria Namitara, a patient, commended KCCA for the medical camp initiative to offer free medical services to the public who miss out on such services in other government facilities.

“Quite often, we have missed medical attention in government facilities due to the limited number of health workers and drug stock-outs, but we are grateful for this initiative,” she added.