Igbo Ora, a town ín Oyo State, Western Nigeria, has the highest number of twins in the world. The town, a small 80 kilometers from Lagos, made up of mostly farmers and traders. It is considered the Twin capital of the world.
Because more twins are born in Igbo-Ora than anywhere else in the world, walking through the town might make you feel like you are seeing double. Almost every house has at least one set of twins.
The production and birth of two children from the same pregnancy is still relatively uncommon. Because one cannot predict if a woman should expect twins, it is also considered special phenomenon. Igbo-Ora makes one think that there might be a secret to getting twins after all.
While there are speculations that the births might be due to genetics, research has suggested that the multiple births could be related to the eating habits of the women in the region.
Cassava is quite popular in the Yoruba diet as it can be eaten in many forms such as Amala, Garri, Fufu, etc. This is in addition to the many stews peculiar to the Yoruba people.
Research carried out at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital investigating the multiple twin births points to a high level of a chemical found in the peelings of a particular cassava and yam tubers.
This was also found in the women. According to a 2001 BBC interview, a consultant gynaecologist who had seen many of the multiple births at the hospital says "These substances are usually linked to the release of more than one egg, which usually leads to twin pregnancies.
That means that there is possibly an environmental factor that encourages the high level of this chemical substance. Numerous works has shown that the tuber food of the Yoruba women, especially the peelings, contains a very large amount of these chemical substances.
These women have a disproportionately large amount of these chemicals in their system and this encourages the release of more than one egg. There is enough reason to believe in this theory. "However, the leader of the Igbo-Ora community
has linked the births to the soup they eat with these tubers saying:
“We eat a lot of the okra leaf or Ilasa soup. We also eat a lot of yam and these diets influence multiple births.”
Support .@Africa_Archives to continue promoting the powerful African Legacy
The tragic exploitation of an African woman, Sara Baartman #Thread
Sara's life was of hardship. She was born in 1789 in the Camdeboo valley in the eastern part of the Cape Colony in South Africa. It is commonly thought she was born in the Gamtoos valley, but she moved there with her family only years after her birth.
her mother died when she was two and her father, a cattle driver, died when she was an adolescent. She got into domestic service in Cape Town after a Dutch colonist murdered her partner, with whom she had had a baby who died.
Ruby Bridges, born September 8 1954. Sixty one years ago, at only 6 years old, she was the first Black child to desegregate the all white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on 14 November 1960.
Ruby Bridges is only 67 years old. The people who threw rocks at Ruby Bridges for trying to go to school are now upset that their grandchildren might learn about them throwing rocks at Ruby Bridges for trying to go to school.
Support .@Africa_Archives to continue promoting the powerful African Legacy
African King, Mansa Abubakar II discovered Americas in 1312. 180 years before Columbus
The Italian sailor / explorer Christopher Columbus has a renowned reputation as the discoverer of the new world in every simple history lesson. This has been globally recognized for over 500 years to date. Education has been in the possession of Europeans
who many believe have imposed what has enriched them while scorning or changing what has not been done. As the waves of awareness begin to spread, several “European” expeditions have now seen their acclaimed achievements with doubt.