‘Water Leaf, Effective In Cholesterol Reduction’

Waterleaf, a green leaf vegetable and common in the Niger Delta has been found to have medical and nutritional properties both for human and animals as it is said to reduce high levels of cholesterol in people.

According to Nigerian  born Professor, Michael Ezekwe of the Alcorn State University, United States of America, “we realised that waterleaf  has a very unique property which other vegetables don’t   have . It has  a high level of alpha linolenic acid and a high level pectin, a soluble fibre”, which helps in the breakdown of cholesterol.

Prof Ezekwe, who made this disclose during and interactive session with farmers, added that “It has the same action in people with high lipid in the blood”.

He explained that the study  was carried out on people with high cholesterol in their blood, saying “at the end of it, we found out that the total cholesterol was reduced by 20 per cent. The Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL) or bad cholesterol was reduced  by 30 per cent;  and High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) or good cholesterol was increased by approximately 70 per cent.

He also said, the blood haematocrit was  discovered to increase in the subjects.

However, he lamented the lack of government support and  recognition for research and this kind of break throughs in the country.

According to him, there is “lack of infrastructure and opportunity in Nigeria for one’s knowledge to be expressed, stressing, “Nigeria has the greatest potential to develop and utilise this crop”.