Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of gas flare and air pollution on body mass index, blood pressure and blood sugar measures in individuals living in Niger Delta states of Nigeria. Methodology: Two communities (a test and a control) were used for the study in Niger Delta communities in Imo State. The study was carried out among randomly selected chronically exposed and non-exposed residents. People of different occupations and sex were used for the study. Blood pressure was measured using manual mercurial sphygmomanometer in sitting position after about 10 minutes rest while random blood sugar was measured using Accu-CHEK glucometer. Body mass index(BMI) was calculated in kg/m2 as a ratio of body weight and height squared. Results: Results showed that the mean BMI of the test group (27.88 ± 0.23) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of the control (23.16 ± 0.18). Also, generally, the mean blood pressure measurements (systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, mean arterial blood pressure) and blood sugar of both males and the females were significantly higher (P<0.05) when compared with the control. Blood pressure measures were higher in males while blood sugar was higher in females. Irrespective of occupation, blood pressure and blood sugar measurements showed a statistically significant increase (P<0.05) in the test group when compared with the control. Conclusion: In conclusion, long-term exposure to oil/gas flares increased blood pressure, blood sugar and BMI all of which are risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Keywords : Gas flaring, Blood pressure, Diabetes mellitus, Body mass index

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Correlation between ABO/Rhesus blood group, Sickle cell disease (SCD) and Diabetes mellitus (DM) was investigated in Okwe, Asaba, Delta State and Ihiala, Anambra State,Nigeria. 100 proven cases of sickle cell patients (HBSS) from the sickle cell clinic in the General Hospital, Okwe, Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria, were studied. 200 normal individuals, 100 with genotype AA and 100 with genotype AS were taken as control for comparison from Okwe town. Furthermore, 50 proven cases of adults diabetic mellitus type2 from the diabetic clinic of our Lady’s of Lourdes Hospital Ihiala, Anambra State were studied. Samples of 50 normal adult individuals were taken from the Hospital town as control for comparison. In the ABO/Rhesus blood group and SCD, the result showed that there was a correlation between ABO/Rhesus blood group and sickle cell disease (p<0.05). It was also observed that blood group O has the highest frequency distribution among the sicklers (63%), followed by blood group B (20%), then blood group A (17%), the least was AB blood group with O% distribution. For Rhesus blood system, the prevalence of Rh positive and Rh negative was studied against the hemoglobin genotypes. Rh positive was 96%for SS, 74% for AA, and 92% for AS. Rh negative was 4% for SS, 26%for AA and 8% for AS. This showed that Rh positive has the highest prevalence in SS while Rh negative has the lowest prevalence in SS,[P ABO\Rhesus blood group and DM, there was no correlation between ABO/Rhesus blood group and adult type 2 diabetes mellitus (P>0.05). It was also observed that blood group O (78%) was most commonly distributed in diabetes mellitus type2, followed by A (22%), blood group 0 (0%) and AB (0%) did not show any incidence of type2 diabetes mellitus. When Rh positive and Rh negative where matched against DM and the control, Rh positive was 94% in DM and 88% in control (P>0.05). Rh negative was 6% in DM and 12% in control, (P>0.05). It was observed that Rh positive was more in DM than the control, and Rh negative was more in control than in DM patient. Therefore, correlation between ABO/Rhesus blood group and diabetes mellitus type 2 was not proven. It is accordingly, concluded that ABO/Rhesus blood group has positive correlation with sickle cell disease and fell short of such correlation with diabetes mellitus.

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Honey is a natural sweet substance produced by honey bees. Honey has a very complex chemical composition that varies depending on the botanical source. It has been used both as food and medicine since ancient times. Honey has long been used for treatment of various diseases in folk medicine around the world. The present study was planned to explore the effect of Natural Honey (NH) on the intestinal transit of rats. The rats were fed chow, fresh palm oil diet (FPOD), Thermoxidized Palm Oil Diet (TPOD) and NH; and further the transit point was calculated as a percentage of the total length of the intestine. The NH treated rats significantly decreased the intestinal transit of rats compared to other groups. The findings exhibited that natural honey used for the treatment of diarrhoea.