Category: Nutrition

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Taking nutritional data to the PNG public #BAD11

I recently posted the following quote on the Biodiversity for Nutrition group.

Papua New Guinea’s taro and aibika are high in Iron and Zinc compounds which are important for human health but such nutritional information is not available for the public, says Nelson Simbiken, a PhD student at the Australian National University in Canberra.

The quote comes from a blog on PNG agriculture, and I must say I expected a strong reaction. I was not disappointed. This has just come in in reply from Wila Saweri-van Hulzen, who worked as a nutritionist in the Department of Health in PNG for some 20 years. 1

There is information on the nutrition composition of PNG foods. It may not be recent, and it may be applicable to small part of the country, but it is available.

Brand JC, Thomas DE and Hyndman D. Composition of the subsistence foods of the Wopkaimin people of Papua New Guinea. PNG Medical Journal 34:35-48, 1991.

It gives information on taro and Hibiscus manihot (or aibika).

Ohtsuka R, Kawabe T, Inaoka T, Suzuki T, Hongo T, Akimichi T, Sugahara T. Composition of local and purchased foods consumed by the Gidra in lowland Papua. Ecology of Food and Nutrition 15:159-169, 1984.

The Pacific Islands food composition tables, 2nd edition, FAO, Rome, 2004 used this information in its food composition tables. The difficulty is that these tables uses Fijian local food names, so the name edible hibiscus is used, rather than aibika. (Appendix VI lists aibika and refers to edible hibiscus.) The scientific name is Abelmoschus manihot or Hibiscus manihot.

The South Pacific Commission 2 in Noumea (New Caledonia) has published several booklets and leaflets with food composition information. A few are The Leaves We Eat, The Fruits We Eat, The Staples We Eat. Again, they use Fijian local names, so one has to figure out what the PNG name would be.

At the moment I have no internet access, so I am unable to read the newsletter.

That’s surely correct. And I could add other sources. There are plenty of data on the nutritional composition of Pacific foods. But are these data available to “the public” in PNG? That, I think, was Mr Simbiken’s original point, and I think it’s a good one. The answer must be no, if the data are only published in obscure journals and under Fijian names. But I can’t believe that’s the case. I seem to remember seeing posters in tok pisin extolling the health virtues of various local foods. Someone please tell me I didn’t just imagine them.

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Nibbles: Livestock films, Sea cucumbers, Plant collecting, Nutritional composition, Intensification, Mongolian pastoralists, Low resource tolerance

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Can one ever have too many factsheets on the baobab?

Baobab pepsi
Fresh on the heels of Bioversity’s ‘African Priority Food Tree Species’ factsheet on the baobab, which was itself fresh on the heels of the Agroforestree database factsheet on the baobab, we now have, again from Bioversity, another, ahem, factsheet on the baobab. Well, this is different. I think. It’s part of a series on neglected and underutilized species. Or maybe nutritious and underutilized, as they are also described on the website. Maybe because it’s becoming difficult to call the baobab neglected. In fact, with the recent update of a review of the use of the species, perhaps the time has come for a meta-factsheet on the baobab.

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“Let’s go local” Lois Englberger interview

LoisEngleberger

I don’t know whether Lois Englberger actually saw the interview that has just been published in Farming Matters, the renamed LEISA magazine. In a way, it doesn’t matter. The result is both a very personal history of Lois’ involvement with the Island Food Community of Pohnpei and a useful and informative guide not only to what works and what doesn’t but also to the kind of thinking needed. Here’s a tiny extract:

What didn’t work?

Because the FSM is traditionally an oral society we found that written documents, like newsletters, worked for some groups – leaders especially – but not for the community. Furthermore, we found that people were reticent when simply advised to plant more local foods. Cooking classes and recipes thus proved to be a very effective means of motivating people, and inspiring them to want to grow local food. In general, however, perceptions are very difficult to change. Although community members were told on a number of occasions that their unhealthy lifestyles were to blame for their failing health it seemed like the message didn’t really sink in. People close their ears to messages, so we learnt that repetition is important.

You can read the whole thing here and download the entire special issue on Regional Food Systems. And a special tip of the hat to our friends Jess Fanzo and Danny Hunter, who helped compile the special issue, and Teresa Borelli, who wrote up the interview with Lois.