Guardian

A SURGEON, Dr Dades Obed, has advised that people guard against excessive ingestion of cabbage and unprocessed cassava to avoid goitre.

Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday, Obed called on the people to help the government to curtail the occurrence of goitre.

He said cassava, cabbage and soya products contained goitrogens, which interfere with the synthesis of thyroid hormones.

He said that it was the uptake of iodine into the thyroid gland that causes goitre. “These substances are, however, heat sensitive and are thereby destroyed by cooking, steaming, adequate processing and frying in the case of cassava.

“People without thyroid conditions should not have problem eating these foods but for those with iodine deficiency conditions, such as hypothyroidism, consuming these goitrogens may worsen their condition,” he said.

He said people needed not abstain completely from such foods but moderation was all that was required. “Goitre is an enlargement of the thyroid gland appearing as a swelling of the front of the neck and Iodine deficiency has been found to be one of the causes,” Obed said.

He said the iodine replacement policy of the Federal Government in salt, sugar, oil and other foods was an attempt to reduce the prevalence of goitre in the environment.

“Goitre is an abnormal enlargement of gland in the body called thyroid gland located at the lower part of the neck, the front, when abnormally enlarged, becomes obvious,’’ he added.

According to the doctor, iodine deficiency results to endemic goitre, where more than 10 per cent of the population has enlargement of the thyroid gland.

Other causes of thyroid gland enlargement are heredity, where there is enzymes deficiency, sometimes infections and inflammation, he said.

“It can be viral or bacterial and sometimes malignancies like cancer, which can also cause enlargement of the thyroid gland.

“In treating goitre, the most important thing is to determine what has caused the goitre and then treat it appropriately. There are times that the gland can over produce hormones, which can also lead to the enlargement of the gland,” Obed said.

He said in that case, drugs could be given to control the over production of the hormones by the gland.

“Generally, because of the cosmetic effect of a swelling in the neck, the enlarged gland is removed surgically.

“Cosmetic is a very important factor which determines the type of treatment and for that, surgery is the commonest type of treatment in our environment here,” he added.

The surgeon noted that sometimes, at a very early stage, where there was deficiency of the hormone and if the hormones were replaced early enough, the swelling might regress on its own.

“When the swelling has been there for a long time and has become nodular (small mass of cells or tissue or growth), in such a situation, it is not likely that replacement of the hormones will cause the gland to regress.

“In the prevention of goitre, the level of intelligence must have been improved as a result of iodine replacement or fortification of diet.

“This is by the use of iodine as it is practised in salt, sugar, oil and other things. This is a step to the right direction in terms of preventing goitre,” he said.

Obed advised that people sought medical attention when they noticed any abnormal swelling in parts of the body.