Vitamin deficiency? Researchers identify over a thousand plants that we are not using to combat it

New research has identified more than 1.000 edible plants that could fight vitamin B deficiencies for thousands of people.

Lo study he identified 1.044 plant species that have the potential to be a source of vitamin B. The latter is essential for our health, and in its various forms it helps break down and release energy from food, and helps maintain a healthy nervous system.

The researchers collected data on the vitamin B content of nearly 300 plant species, and used the evolutionary relationships of these species to predict the vitamin values of more than 6.000 documented edible plant species worldwide. Their findings show that approx 1.000 plant species are potential sources of five different B vitamins: B1, B2, B3, B5 e B9.

The future of food

According to researcher Aoife Cantwell-Jones, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London and lead author of the paper, said:

We need to pay more attention to the incredible diversity of edible plants to better understand how they can contribute to human nutrition, and what we need to do to preserve them for future generations.

The researchers found many of these nutritionally rich species are found in areas of the world where there is famine and the highest rates of malnutrition, such as Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. These findings therefore highlight the crucial need for further conservation actions to ensure that edible plant diversity remains a safe nourishment reservoir for future generations.

Plant sources of vitamin B

Currently the most popular sources of B vitamins they are dairy products, eggs, legumes and fresh fruit; then there are also fortified foods, including breakfast cereals and nutritional yeast used mainly in the vegan diet.

Researchers through this study have identified some plants as potential sources of vitamin B; these include the genus Digitaria, which is composed of many species of high nutritional grass, including the funio and its wild relatives native to the West African savannas. These could represent aimportant source of food for the future, as they are also fast growing and highly resistant to hot, dry climates.

Different species of oats present in Europe and the United Kingdom may represent important sources of thiamine B1. L'Ethiopian oats (Avena abyssinica) is a traditional and underused food, but with a high potential for food safety.

The potentials Threatened sources of B vitamins include fruits and seeds of various baobabs (Adansonia), originating from Madagascar. These can be good sources of folate, i.e. B9, but are used locally for different purposes such as coal and lumber reserves, which leads them to be in danger of extinction.

Secale africanum is a wild rye found only in the Karoo in southwestern South Africa; It was once common in the area, but has experienced a severe decline due to overgrazing by livestock, poor land management and disease. Likewise, Durio kutejensis is a wild species of Durian from Borneo, Indonesia that is threatened by deforestation and the expansion of agriculture.

In order to use these plant species as a source of nutrition we should first ensure that they remain available in nature long-term; it is therefore necessary to protect and preserve them in order to remain available for future generations.

Photos: Nature

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