Experts warn consumers against unhygienic zobo drink

…Urge government to ensure clean water supply

Zobo drink, a locally-made drink from edible petals of the hibiscus plant, gained popularity in the Nigerian market some decades ago. Ever since then, the bright red drink has become a delight to many consumers across the country.

Zobo can be seen while being hawked on the streets, markets and bus stops. It is also sold by retailers of soft drinks. Some time, one may mistake it for soft drinks like coca cola, Biggie because they have similar colour.

Research has shown that zobo drink has a lot of health benefits which include reduction of cholesterol, high blood pressure; prevention of diabetes and a host of others.

Also, in a recent report written by, nutritional biochemist and a senior research officer with the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi, Lagos, Ochuko Erukainure, it was stated that consumption of zobo drink is very effective for digestion, weight management, and lowering blood pressure, provided it is prepared hygienically and with minimum sugar.

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According to him the local drink
contains between 15 percent and 30 percent acid, maleic acid and tartaric acid which he said are powerful enzymes that reduce the risk of high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes in the body.

Speaking in an interview with Consumer Watch, a Lagos-based nutritionist, Miracule Mbagwu regretted the manner in which some women produce zobo drink describing it as unhygienic.

Mbagwu said that most producers of zobo drink do not bother to pick dirty particles in the dried hibiscus before making use of it and added that they do not use clean and boiled water in the production of the local drink which originated from the northern part of the country.

“Some of the producers of zobo drink manufacture the drink in a dirty manner. They do not consider the health implication of their deeds. They make use of well water instead of boiled tap water. Besides, the containers used in retailing the drink are picked on the road side. These containers no doubt contain dirty particles. In fact the quickest way of getting typhoid fever, diarrhoea is through consumption of zobo drink prepared with well water”, she said.

On the sugar content of zobo drink, the nutritionist observed that majority of the producers add too much sugar to it in order to make it more attractive.

She said: “Adding sugar to zobo drink is not healthy, there is an ideal flavour that does not have any health implication which can be added to it, but because sugar is cheaper than the flavour, they prefer sugar which is detrimental to the health of consumers.’’

However, she stressed the need for producers of zobo drink to be more sterile by using boiled tap water and flavour instead of sugar, adding, “but whereby they want to use sugar, they should fry it, in order to reduce the sugar contain”.

Also the nutritionist said: “Since they produce the local drink for commercial purpose, they should go for new plastic containers instead of using contaminated and used plastic bottles, because some of the bottles are picked near gutters and dustbins and they are not properly washed and sterilized with hot water before usage.”

On his part, a medical doctor with the Imperial Hospital Ebutte –Metta Lagos, Jude Aluko attributed increased cases of juvenile diabetes to consumption of zobo drink, juice and soft drinks targeted to children.

“Over the years there has been increase in the influx of different brands of highly chemicalised drinks for children in the market. Now, it is difficult to see children juice that contains less sugar, but if it was in the 80’s you can make a choice between sugary drinks and the ones that are not, but today there is no choice to make because all the drinks produced for children contain addictives that give the drinks high sugary taste”.

Explaining further, the medical practitioner affirmed that the preservative added to such drinks could lead to liver and kidney problem in the children later in life.

However, he advised mothers to be mindful of the drink they buy for their children and advised that they should always taste the drink before buying so as to ascertain the level of sugar in such product.

“If you taste the product and the sugar in it is high, you can buy any other thing for the child because if it is a child whose parents have diabetes in their linage, that child can easily have diabetes’’, the expert submitted.

He appealed to government to ensure there is adequate clean water supply in the country adding, “If there is clean water, people will not produce zobo drink with well water.

“They use unclean water because of the economic situation in the country, those who produce the drink may not have money to buy clean water and so, each time they want to produce zobo dink, they can lay hands on any available water whether good or bad and it should not be so because of the dangers associated with consumption of poorly produced zobo drink,’’ Aluko noted.

The experts advised that consumers should be mindful of the drinks they take as consumption of unhygienic drinks such as zobo drink could lead to several health challenges.

Also, they called on the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to checkmate the activities of food and drink producers in the country.