International Women’s Month: Why Nigeria’s Food Environment Is Failing Women and Girls
By Bukola Olukemi-Odele
When conversations about healthy living arise, the focus often falls on personal discipline.
But for many Nigerian women and girls, the real issue is not willpower, it is the environment that determines what food is available, affordable and promoted.
Across many communities, access to nutritious food is shrinking while ultra-processed foods dominate shelves in supermarkets, kiosks and convenience stores.
Bread, noodles, sugary drinks, frozen meals and packaged snacks have increasingly replaced fresh, whole foods.
These products are deliberately designed to encourage repeat consumption.
Packed with high levels of salt, sugar and unhealthy fats, they create what nutrition experts describe as hyper-palatability, a sensory effect that stimulates appetite and encourages people to keep eating, even when the nutritional value is low.
The consequences are already visible.
According to the Global Nutrition Report, about 15.7 per cent of Nigerian women live with obesity, a figure driven partly by rising consumption of ultra-processed foods.
For women and girls, the risks are particularly serious because their nutritional needs change across key life stages, from adolescence to pregnancy and motherhood.
Studies show that high consumption of ultra-processed foods among young girls has been linked to early puberty, which can increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancers later in life.
During pregnancy, the dangers multiply. Diets heavy in ultra-processed foods have been associated with gestational hypertension, diabetes and pre-eclampsia.
They are also linked to conditions such as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), which can complicate fertility.
Yet the problem is not simply dietary preference, it is structural.
Women, who often shoulder the responsibility of feeding households while juggling work and unpaid care duties, are aggressively targeted by marketing that presents instant meals and packaged snacks as convenient solutions for busy lifestyles.
Without clear regulations such as front-of-pack warning labels, marketing restrictions and limits on salt and harmful additives, these products quietly become the default choice for many families.
The impact extends beyond health. Diet-related illnesses increase medical costs, reduce productivity and deepen economic inequalities, particularly for women already navigating financial pressures.
Food justice, therefore, is not just a nutrition issue, it is a women’s rights issue.
Ensuring healthier food environments through stronger policies, better labelling and responsible marketing is essential to protecting the well-being of women and girls.
Because when the food environment improves, women gain not just better health, but a stronger foundation for their families and future generations.
Olukemi-Odele, a food and nutrition scientist, is the Programme Officer, Cardiovascular Health, at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA).
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