Health Insights: The goodness in Munkoyo (Chibwantu) drink

A glass of chibwantu

By Asunta Simoloka

I grew up taking plenty of munkoyo drink or chibwantu but without fully realizing what a nutritional powerhouse this beverage is.

Chibwantu, a fermented maize drink that is a staple in the traditional Zambian diet, contains plenty of health promoting bacteria known as probiotics, essential for healthy digestion and overall wellbeing.

To most people, bacteria are synonymous with disease but there are also good bacteria out there.

Probiotics in chibwantu greatly lower the risk for colorectal cancer and they produce vitamin K, a nutrient that prevents and eliminates plaque buildup in heart arteries, thereby, effectively fighting heart disease.

These healthy bugs also detox the system, assimilate vital nutrients, boost immunity, and eliminate bad bacteria that cause bad breath and foul smelling stools.

By reducing the population of harmful bacteria, probiotics maintain optimal balance in the eco system of the digestive tract.

A shortage of healthy bacteria creates an eco gap that is quickly filled by bad bacteria which in turn cause a porous gastro intestinal wall, also known as ’leaky gut’.

As a result, toxins from waste material inside the digestive tract leak into the blood stream causing a myriad of health problems including yeast infection and a suppressed immune system.

Probiotics are not the only reason chibwantu is healthy, rhynchosia or munkoyo roots, added during preparation of this drink to speed up the fermentation process, confer immeasurable health benefits.

Asunta Simoloka

Rhynchosia roots have high concentrations of flavonoids, compounds that are rapidly gaining attention due to their immense health promoting and diseases fighting abilities.

Flavonoids in rhynchosia roots have powerful anti cancer activity, counter heart disease, and possess anti oxidative properties with a high capacity to scavenge harmful radicals that cause disease and damage cells.

However, Maheu, a modernized version of chibwantu lacks vital nutrients because of unhealthy ingredients; instead of wholegrain maize that is used in the original chibwantu recipe, maheu contains processed maize which lacks the fiber rich outer layer.

In addition, all those flavors that maheu comes in are really added sugars that expand your waistline, increasing your risk for disease, particularly heart related illnesses.