Nutrition

August 3, 2007August 3, 2007

Nutrition news from the Antipodes

What do these fruits have in common: Kakadu plum, Illawarra plum, Burdekin plum, Davidsonâ€™s plum, riberry, red and yellow finger limes, Tasmanian pepper, brush cherry, Cedar Bay cherry, muntries and Molucca raspberry? Five points if you said “They’re all native Australian fruits”. Ten points if you said “According to this press release I just read, they’re exceptional sources of antioxidants identified in research published in the journal Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies”.

Ten points to me.

August 2, 2007August 2, 2007

Tree domestication a huge success

There’s a heart-warming tale over at the Rural Poverty Portal (nice site, too) of the International Fund for Agricultural Development. A tree domestication project in west Africa has brought higher incomes and improved status for women, which has translated into schooling and better nutrition. Women are running their own tree nurseries, selecting which species to grow and nurturing them for market. So far the number of species is limited, perhaps that will improve. The project was implemented by the World Agroforestry Centre.

August 1, 2007August 1, 2007

GI had no idea there was so much diversity

We know hardly anything about the differences among varieties of the same crop. Oh sure, we know what different varieties look like; that’s easy. But detailed differences in composition are hard to find. There are the classics, of course, like wetet be gunche sorghum in Ethiopia, whose name translates as “milk in my mouth”. It contains almost a third more protein than other sorghum varieties and, even more important, about double the level of lysine, a vital amino acid for human nutrition. And there are the red and black varieties of rice, which are known to be high in iron and other minerals and vitamins and which are traditionally used to treat anaemia, especially in pregnant women. (I have been unable to discover whether this treatment is effective, in a Western sense, but it seems entirely reasonable, and a bit churlish to deny it.) But in general, we know next to nothing about the nutritional qualities of varieties, as opposed to species.

Continue reading “GI had no idea there was so much diversity”

July 31, 2007August 1, 2007

Cow vs goat milk

We’ve blogged before about how goat’s milk is more digestible than cow’s milk, but makes cheese which is lower in beta carotene. Now it turns out that goat’s milk hasÂ “higher bioavailability of iron, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.” Goat’s milk has about 2% of the market. ((In the UK.)) Got (goat’s) milk?

July 31, 2007July 31, 2007

Youth farmstands in the Garden State

Rutgers University’s New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station has something called a Youth Farmstand Program. Farmstands — market stalls selling local produce, often organically grownÂ — offer “a hands-on entrepreneurial experience to youth in the mechanics of owning and operating a small business, based on the premise that experience really is the best teacher.” They also provide “a unifying framework for youth, farmers & communities to achieve success. Each needs the othersâ€™ support to grow and prosper, so everyone wins!” Sounds like a great idea to promote agricultural biodiversity, better nutritionÂ and youth development all at the same time.