“It’s cheaper than the one in branded containers,” she told Good Health Weekly, scooping the oil from a reused 1.5-litre plastic bottle. But Juliet had no idea that the cheap oil she was using might be endangering her family’s health.
Sadly, early this year, her husband collapsed at work. Doctors diagnosed him with high blood pressure and early-stage heart disease. At just 42, he was advised to change his diet, including switching to properly refined and branded cooking oil.
“I thought oil na oil,” Juliet stated, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Now they say the one I buy may be part of what is making him sick?” Her story is not unique.
For many Nigerians like Juliet, the familiar sight of yellowish cooking oil sold in used plastic bottles or dispensed from drums in open markets is nothing unusual. It’s affordable, accessible, and part of daily life.
But nutritionists say beneath the convenience of unbranded edible oil lies a growing public health hazard.
Unknowingly for these Nigerians, it has been found to contribute to a silent crisis in the country’s battle against malnutrition and heart disease.
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Statistics available have shown that across Nigeria, vegetable oil is consumed by over 90 percent of households. Yet, 2021 data from the National Food Consumption and Micronutrient Survey revealed that only 31.4 percent of the oil sold is fortified with Vitamin A and shockingly, just 1.3 percent meets
Today, with an increase in the number of Africans coming down with heart-related diseases, the ugly has been to linked to consumption of unbranded edible oil with possibly high cholesterol.
High cholesterol
According to medical experts, these unbranded products, which contain high cholesterol, are contaminated. Studies have found that Cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart diseases among people of all ages. They found that heart failure accounts for over 50 per cent of cardiovascular-related deaths in Nigeria.
Beyond malnutrition, unbranded oils are now drawing concern from Nigeria’s cardiology community, who warn that these oils, often adulterated or improperly refined, contribute to the country’s rising burden of heart disease.
Contamination
In the view of the Executive Director of the Nigeria Heart Foundation, NHF, Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, vegetable oil becomes contaminated by interference with any additive that ought not to be part of the vegetable oil or even content injurious to health that ought to have been removed in the course of oil extraction.
Vegetable oil produced through unhygienic process may contain high cholesterol and work against the normal flow of the body, thereby blocking heart vessels and leading to sluggishness of blood movement
Trans fats
“These unregulated oils may contain dangerous levels of trans fats, oxidized fats, and other harmful compounds. They can raise bad cholesterol, clog arteries, and significantly increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.”
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Findings by Vanguard showed that many patients now present with hypertension and coronary artery disease has no idea that their cooking oil choices are part of the problem.
Nutrition time bomb
He described the situation as “a nutritional time bomb.” For Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, Executive Director of the Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF), the crisis demands urgent regulatory and consumer action.
He said the Nigerian Heart Foundation is deeply concerned about the widespread consumption of unbranded, unfortified oils. “These oils do not meet health safety standards and contribute significantly to the growing incidence of cardiovascular diseases.”
Akinroye who is also a renowned cardiologist, called for immediate steps to regulate oil sales at informal markets, enforce labeling and traceability, and raise public awareness about the health consequences.
“People must understand that not all oil is good oil. Cheap now can mean costly later — in hospital bills or lives lost,” he cautioned.
Addressing journalists on the issue at training for Media Practitioners in Lagos organised by CS SSUN, Senior Programme Officer and Project Lead at the Techno-Policy Advocacy Collaborative (TPAC), Kunle Ishola, said.
Poison on plates
“We’re essentially eating poison disguised as nutrition. Loose, unbranded oils are not only failing to deliver essential nutrients, but they are also putting millions at risk of chronic diseases and early death.
“What we have is a double burden, undernutrition on one side, and diet-induced non-communicable diseases on the other.
Unbranded oil is driving both,” he said.
Hidden threat in plain sight
Ishola noted that since launching the Large-Scale Food Fortification (LSFF) programme in 2002, Nigeria has made the fortification of key staple foods like salt, sugar, flour, margarine, and edible oil mandatory. The aim is to combat widespread micronutrient deficiencies that fuel conditions like anemia, rickets, and blindness, especially in children and women of reproductive age.
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But despite this policy, the Nigerian market is flooded with loose and unbranded oils that flout fortification regulations. These oils, often sold in repurposed bottles and stored under poor conditions, are stripped of their nutritional value and, worse still, may be contaminated by dust, industrial chemicals, and pesticides during transport and handling.
“Fortified oil is supposed to deliver Vitamin A to the population, especially the vulnerable. But when you buy oil from a roadside drum, it’s anyone’s guess what you’re actually getting,” Ishola”
Why Branding and Fortification Matter
Without proper branding and labeling, unbranded oils lack traceability making it nearly impossible for regulatory bodies like NAFDAC or the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to monitor compliance or ensure quality.
Ishola said: “We can’t enforce what we can’t trace. If a product is not branded, how do you hold anyone accountable for what’s inside?”
Ishola said proper fortification also requires packaging that protects micronutrients like Vitamin A from degradation. When oils are exposed to sunlight or heat, the nutrients break down rendering the fortification ineffective.
“The oil on our tables should nourish, not harm. We must act now before this hidden killer claims more lives.”
What’s at stake?
Malnutrition and heart disease are already taking a heavy toll on Nigeria’s health system and economy. Experts say investing in food fortification, particularly of widely consumed products like vegetable oil, could improve cognitive development in children, reduce maternal mortality, and increase workforce productivity.
“Fortification is not a luxury, it’s a lifeline. “If we fail to close this gap, we’ll keep treating diseases that could have been prevented at the market stall,” Ishola said.
To address the dangers of unbranded oil, stakeholders are calling for stricter enforcement of mandatory fortification laws. They stressed the need for public education on the risks of buying loose, unbranded oil, support for local producers to improve labeling, packaging, and compliance, partnerships with health bodies like NHF and the Nigerian Cardiac Society to raise awareness.
How unbranded cooking oils endanger Nigerian families