WASHINGTON DC, Might 14 (IPS) – In Nigeria, salt is deeply woven into the material of meals and tradition. It brings out taste, preserves substances, and enhances custom. However lately, salt has change into the centerpiece of harmful misinformation promoted by considered one of Nigeria’s strongest non secular leaders.
Throughout a now-viral sermon, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, founding father of the worldwide megachurch Christ Embassy, declared that warnings about extra salt are a part of a broader conspiracy to hurt Africans. He stated, “They advised you salt just isn’t good so that you gained’t take salt anymore and then you definitely get sodium deficiency and want their sodium tablets and sodium medicine. Get up, Africa!”
Inside days, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Well being issued a proper advisory contradicting his claims and reinforcing the dangers of excessive salt consumption. The ministry emphasised the well-known dangers: hypertension, coronary heart failure, stroke, and kidney illness. WHO recommends adults devour lower than 5 grams of salt each day (about one teaspoon).
However what occurs when tens of millions imagine the pulpit over public well being coverage?
A Sample of Misinformation by Pastor Oyakhilome
Pastor Oyakhilome’s salt remarks usually are not an remoted incident. He has a troubling report of selling health-related conspiracy theories that put his followers and the bigger Christian neighborhood in danger.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, he falsely claimed that 5G know-how was liable for the unfold of the virus. Although he later walked it again, the injury was performed, fueling confusion and distrust.
He has additionally repeatedly mischaracterized COVID-19 vaccines, describing them as instruments of genetic manipulation. In a single broadcast, he recommended that they alter human DNA, a declare unequivocally refuted by scientists and fact-checkers.
In April 2025, Oyakhilome falsely claimed that Pope Francis had died because of the COVID-19 vaccine. The Vatican rapidly debunked this falsehood and confirmed that the 88-year-old pontiff handed away as a consequence of problems from a stroke, which led to a coma and coronary heart failure.
Such statements have drawn regulatory motion. In 2021, the UK’s broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, fined Oyakhilome’s tv channel £25,000 for airing COVID-19 conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated medical claims.
Why Salt Misinformation Issues
The impression of misinformation is compounded in international locations like Nigeria, the place non secular leaders wield huge affect. In response to a 2022 Afrobarometer survey, 60% of Nigerians stated they belief non secular leaders ‘considerably’ or ‘loads’. That is far greater than the belief proven for political leaders or public establishments: the president (27%); members of the Nationwide Meeting (19%); and political events (15%).
Misinformation from the pulpit has actual penalties
Greater than one-third of Nigerian adults endure from hypertension, a number one danger issue for coronary heart illness, stroke, and kidney failure. Extra salt consumption contributes considerably to those situations, as documented throughout a number of world well being research.
When salt enters the physique in extra, its results ripple silently throughout very important organs, usually with out early warning indicators.
It begins with the coronary heart, which should work tougher to pump the elevated quantity of blood retained by the sodium. Over time, this sustained stress can result in hypertension and finally coronary heart failure, with the sluggish thickening of the guts’s partitions and the quiet exhaustion of an important muscle.
The kidneys, too, battle underneath the load of an excessive amount of salt. These delicate filters are tasked with eradicating extra sodium, however when overwhelmed, they start to interrupt down. This will result in persistent kidney illness, protein leaking into the urine, and the painful formation of kidney stones. Moreover, lowered kidney perform leads to much less extra water being eliminated, which will increase blood stress ranges.
The mind is particularly susceptible. Extended hypertension attributable to extra salt can rupture or block these vessels, resulting in strokes. Even when no stroke happens, the lowered blood stream can step by step impair reminiscence and cognitive perform.
In the meantime, the arteries harden. As soon as elastic and responsive, they lose their potential to increase and contract. The result’s a narrowed freeway for blood, rising the chance of coronary heart assaults and peripheral artery illness.
Excessive salt ranges irritate the liner of the abdomen and should contribute to the expansion of Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium strongly linked to gastric most cancers. What begins as seasoning on the desk could, over years, change into gas for malignancy.
These usually are not speculative considerations. They’re well-established scientific info. When a high-profile pastor tells tens of millions to extend their salt consumption, it dangers undoing years of public well being training and funding.
The Position of Religion Leaders in Well being Communication
As a public well being doctor, I perceive the significance of cultural context and trusted messengers. Religion leaders can, and infrequently do play highly effective roles in selling wholesome behaviors. For example, in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pastor Enoch Adeboye (Common Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God) inspired christians to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine. He stated, “It’s silly to maintain having religion that God will shield you from an an infection when He has made provision for vaccines that may present a excessive share of safety. I’ve taken the jab. I prayed about it and acquired a transparent path from God to go and obtain it.”
However when non secular authority is used to advertise pseudoscience, it turns into a harmful betrayal of belief. We should problem misinformation, particularly when it comes from influential voices. Public well being officers should collaborate with religion communities to coach leaders on evidence-based well being communication. And regulatory companies have to be empowered to carry repeat offenders accountable.
Conclusion: Let Salt Season Meals, Not Falsehood
Salt ought to improve taste. Not endanger lives. It’s not a remedy, and it definitely just isn’t a conspiracy. Leaders with affect, particularly in issues of religion, have an obligation to uphold reality, not distort it.
As Nigeria and different international locations navigate the rising burden of noncommunicable ailments (NCDs), we can’t afford sermons that sacrifice science for spectacle. NCDs trigger about 29% of all deaths in Nigeria — over 684,000 yearly.
Let’s preach well being. Let’s defend the reality. Let’s maintain misinformation out of our kitchens, and out of our pulpits.
Dr. Ifeanyi M. Nsofor, a public-health doctor, world well being fairness advocate and behavioral-science researcher, serves on the World Fellows Advisory Board on the Atlantic Institute, Oxford, United Kingdom. You possibly can observe him @Ifeanyi Nsofor, MD on LinkedIn
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