Diarrhoea, which is an illness characterized by an increase in frequency and fluidity of stools is one of the most common diseases causing infant death in developing countries.

Poor hygiene, consumption of contaminated foods and close proximity to animals all contribute to easy and frequent acquisition of pathogens that cause this condition which include Escherichia coli, Salmonella species, Shigella species, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile, and Campylobacter jejuni among others.

Diarrhoea, although self-limiting, may some times require antibiotic therapy. However, most of the causative agents especially bacteria have already developed resistance to most of the commonly employed antibiotics. In addition, some of these antibiotics can also induce diarrhoea known as “antibiotic induced diarrhoea”, thus the need to find alternative means of treatment of this disease.

Locally in some communities in southwestern Nigeria, uncooked ogi is normally administered to people having running stomach to reduce the frequency of stooling.

Interestingly, this is a practice that may are not aware that it has been scientifically justified as effective, especially at the grassroots where access to conventional medical attention is low.

Researchers investigation the usefulness of liquor of maize “ogi” tried it out specifically on common bacteria that causes diarrhea and also to know whether the variety of grains used in preparing the ogi and the steeping method have any effect on its usefulness in treating diarrhea.

This was a study carried out by Adebolu, T. T. and Ihunweze, B. C. from the Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Akure in collaboration with Olodun, A. O. from  the Federal Veterinary Services, Akure. The 2007 published in the African Journal of Biotechnology, was entitled “Evaluation of ogi liquor from different grains for antibacterial activities against some common diarrhoeal bacteria in Southwest, Nigeria.”

The researchers trying out the effect of raw ogi liquor from five varieties of grains; white maize, yellow maize, white guinea corn, red guinea corn and millet on common germs that cause diarrhea reported that the “ogi liquors prepared using cold and hot water methods were effective in inhibiting the growth of most of the test organisms.”

They wrote that “the growth inhibition mediated by these liquors, however, was not as wide as that of some of the antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, gentamycin and ofloxacin, but in most cases superior to that of tetracycline, nitrofurantoin and cotrimoxazole.”

Although tetracycline inhibited the growth of all the test organisms, this inhibition was not superior to that mediated by the ogi liquors used.

In addition, the ogi liquors irrespective of mode of steeping of the grains, had antibacterial activities against most of the test bacteria except Enterobacter sp. Whose growth was not inhibited by the ogi liquor obtained from the grains steeped using cold water method and S. aureus whose growth was not inhibited by ogi liquor from the grains steeped using hot water.

The ogi liquor from millet steeped in cold water had the highest inhibitory effect on the growth of S. typhimurium while ogi liquor from white guinea corn and red guinea corn steeped in hot water gave the highest inhibition against E. coli. For S. aureus, ogi liquor from white guinea corn steeped in cold water gave the highest inhibition on the organism while for S. dysenteriae; ogi liquor from white guinea corn steeped in hot water gave the highest inhibition. Ogi liquor from yellow maize steeped in hot water on the other hand gave the highest inhibition against Enterobacter sp.

They attributed that the effectiveness of the ogi liquor in inhibiting these germs to raw ogi liquor having bioactive components, which had inhibitory activity on these organisms. One of such components acts by destroying the membrane that covers the diarrhea-causing germ.

In addition, the low acidic nature of the liquors could also be partly responsible for preventing the growth of diarrhea-causing germs because most bacteria cannot grow at low pH except few such as the lactic acid bacteria.

Based on the study confirming that uncooked ogi liquor from different varieties of grains has antibacterial activity against common bacteria that cause diarrhea, “it is, therefore, suggested that people having diarrhea should drink raw ogi liquor to treat the infection especially in rural areas where they might not have access to medical attention. This will save many lives especially infants’ in rural communities before they get to the hospital for proper medication.”

Meanwhile, African traditional fermented foods such as ‘‘fufu’’ (fermented cassava product), ‘‘ogi’’ (fermented maize, sorghum, or millet gruel), ‘‘fura da nunu’’ (fresh cow’s milk with fermented millet gruel), ‘‘pito’’ and ‘‘burukutu’’ (cereal-based alcoholic beverages) and ‘‘ugba,’’ a protein-rich fermented African oil bean seed product, remain the main source of nutrition for many rural communities in Africa.

In spite of the abundance of fermented foods in Africa, there are yet numerous challenges with regard to deciphering the real health benefits that accrue from consuming such products, due in large part to lack of coordinated randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled scientific research.

In Nigeria, experts have shown that lactic acid bacteria, notably L. lactis isolated from a dairy product called ‘‘wara,’’ inhibit a wide range of food-borne pathogens should be of special interest for food safety and preservation, especially in the African environment with perennial problems of poor food hygiene.

The traditional fermented ‘‘Kule naoto’’ possesses therapeutic properties that the nomadic communities use to prevent diarrhea and constipation.

Studies are emerging indicating the potential of African fermented foods with similar probiotic effects. A study initiated to investigate the effect of different dietary treatments on intestinal permeability during acute diarrhea in 87 Tanzanian children with ages between six and 25 months old  found out that fermented porridge was more effective in the treatment of intestinal permeability than conventional porridge.

Comments (0)

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment