Excessive fasting might cause renal difficulties, according to Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, director general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC.
Her message is directed at Nigerian religious organizations’ practice of continual fasting. Most churches participate in fasting events at the start of the year.
Recently, the prominent Nigerian church, RCCG, began a 50-day fast. Other churches have tolled the path as well. However, NAFDAC has advised that fasting excessively is bad for one’s health because it causes kidney problems.
“We are a very religious country – Muslims and Christians, we fast a lot and it is part of the kidney problem. Your body has to have homeostatic balance, meaning the water level in your body must be enough to make your organs function.
“Some people will fast for 20 days or 10 days without drinking even a little bit of water and the kidney is being punished and it can damage your kidney because the kidney does not have water to dilute and filter, that is what some of us do.
“I fast but I fast with common sense. You have to fast with common sense or else you pay with your kidney.”
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