The President of the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Rev. Prince Baidoo, has raised concern over what he describes as a rising number of stroke cases among women, linking the trend to long-standing unhealthy lifestyle habits, particularly late-night eating.
His comments come amid growing national attention on non-communicable diseases, with President John Mahama also recently cautioning against eating late at night, citing it as a contributing factor to Ghana’s increasing health burden.
Speaking on JoyNews on Thursday, April 16, Rev. Baidoo said observations from health facilities suggest a troubling increase in stroke cases, especially among women.
“From our point of view, there are some behaviours we have carried across time that have made the number of strokes… keep increasing,” he said. “When you come to the ward, the number of women getting strokes is rising.”
He stressed the need for a shift in eating habits, particularly the timing of meals, adding that the human body can be trained to adapt to healthier routines.
“It is important we retrain our bodies. It is not cast in stone that you must close and come home at night before you eat,” he explained.
Rev. Baidoo warned that consistently eating late at night, typically between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., is associated with higher risks of stroke, diabetes, and hypertension.
He also pointed to irregular meal patterns—such as skipping breakfast and delaying lunch—as factors that can disrupt the body’s natural rhythm and trigger late-night hunger.
“What happens is that some people do not eat in the morning; their first meal will be around 11 a.m., their second meal around 5 p.m., so around 11 o’clock or 12 midnight, the body is saying you have not taken your third meal,” he explained.
To address this, he recommended a more structured daily eating routine. “If you can eat your first meal by 8 a.m., your second meal by 2 p.m., and your last meal by 7 p.m., your body will not demand any other food,” he said.
Rev. Baidoo also called for a collective effort within families to help change entrenched eating habits.
“We must sit as families—wives, husbands, mothers, and children—and discuss it together so that we can shift this practice,” he urged.
He suggested that meals typically eaten late at night could be rescheduled earlier in the day to improve health outcomes.
While acknowledging that occasional late meals may be unavoidable, he cautioned against making it a daily habit, warning that it could pose serious long-term health risks.
“If our practice is that every night you will eat heavily, then you are preparing yourself for a dangerous disease in the future,” he said.
Rev. Baidoo encouraged Ghanaians to complete their meals earlier in the evening, ideally between morning and 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m.
“When you do that and train your body, you’ll be fine,” he added.
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