Accra, June 12, GNA - Ghanaians have been urged to discard the illusion that obesity is a sign of wealthy living. Mr. Kofi Adusei, Project Manager, Regenerative Health of the Ministry of Health, said obesity or fatness rather made the individual susceptible to all kinds of illness, which could result in death. Mr Adusei, speaking at a seminar on regenerative health for citizens within the Adentan Municipality said fatness increased the Body Mass Index (BMI) of a person.

BMI which could be classified as underweight, overweight, obese and highly obese helps the physician to detect risk of the individual to developing diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, among others, due to poor eating habits.

"You can live up to 120 years and still look younger if you cultivate the habit of eating more fruits and vegetables, drink 8 glasses of water a day and do a lot of exercises," he said. Dr Elimelek Israel, African Hebrew Development Agency, said the use of body and hair creams and soaps which contained a lot of chemicals also disturbed the normal functioning of the body.

He advocated that Ghanaians should value local creams and soaps such as alata samina, shea butter, palm kernel oil and also put on dresses made of cotton, silk and wool to protect the body.

Dr Isreal noted that regular exercise and massage helped in proper circulation of blood, which would boost the immune system.

Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), Minister of Health, who shared his Dimona experience in Israel, said for over 40 years people in that part of the world had never fallen ill or witnessed death due to good eating habits and exercise.

Dimona is a community in Israel with a population of 4,000 who have adopted healthy eating as their standard of living. He noted that he therefore borrowed the practice and decided to make it work in Ghana and urged all and sundry to support and adopt it to ensure longevity.

Major Quashigah said most of the local dances such as Adowa, Agbadza and Boboobo were exercises in themselves and encouraged the dances every morning as exercise.

Nii-Noi Adumuah, Municipal Chief Executive, Adentan, said although the municipality was a newly created one, they were determined to invest in all aspects of the socio-economic life, including health.