By The Arusha News Reporter
For years, many people have believed that traditional African heritage diets were nutritionally superior to Western diets, which rely heavily on factory-processed foods.
That belief has now been vindicated by research.
Drink “mbege” if you want to live longer!
A recent study conducted in Kilimanjaro Region, involving 77 healthy volunteers who switched between an African-style diet and a Western-style diet over a two-week period, found that the Western diet disrupted metabolic pathways linked to non-communicable diseases.
In contrast, the African heritage diet—now dubbed The Kilimanjaro Diet—consisting primarily of whole foods such as okra, bananas, kidney beans and maize meal, paired with a sip of mbege (a fermented local brew made from banana and millet), proved richer in nutrients and appeared to offer strong protection against inflammation, a major contributor to many chronic illnesses.
The benefits of the heritage diet remained evident even two weeks after participants had switched to other foods, suggesting that traditional diets may have lasting health impacts.
However, due to rapid urbanisation, many Africans are increasingly drawn to Western diets, which the study found to be low in dietary fibre and high in saturated fat and refined sugars.
