Nutritional Value of Some of the Crops under Discussion in the Development of a Multilateral System (original) (raw)
Related papers
2013
Main Messages Despite the fact that food production per capita has been increasing globally, major distributional inequalities exist. Global food production has increased by 168% over the past 42 years. The production of cereals has increased by about 130%, but that is now growing more slowly. Nevertheless, an estimated 852 million people were undernourished in 2000-02, up 37 million from the period 1997-99. Of this total, nearly 96% live in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the largest share of undernourished people, is also the region where per capita food production has lagged the most. Rising incomes, urbanization, and shifting consumption patterns have increased per capita food consumption in most areas of the world. Food preferences, including those arising from cultural differences, are important drivers of food provision. As incomes have increased in regions such as East and Southeast Asia, so has demand for high-value products such as livestock and fish, but cereals are likely to remain the major single component of global diets and to occupy the predominant share of cultivated land. A diverse diet, with sufficient protein, oils and fats, micronutrients, and other dietary factors is as important for well-being as access to and consumption of sufficient calories. Average daily energy (calorific) intake has declined recently in the poorest countries. Inadequate energy intake is exacerbated by the fact that poor people tend to have low-quality diets. The world's poorest rely on starchy staples for energy, which leads to significant protein, vitamin, and mineral deficiencies. Overconsumption is also a health problem. Nutritional status and children's growth rates improve with consumption of greater food diversity, particularly of fruits and vegetables. A global epidemic of diet-related obesity and noncommunicable disease is emerging as increasingly urbanized people adopt diets that are higher in energy and lower in diversity in fruits and vegetables than traditional diets (known as the nutrition transition). Many countries now face the double burden of diet-related disease: the simultaneous challenges of significant incidence of acute, communicable diseases in undernourished populations and increasing incidence of chronic diseases associated with the overweight and obese. An increasing number of people everywhere suffer from diseases caused by contaminated food. As the world eats more perishable foods such as meat, milk, fish, and eggs, the risk of food-borne illnesses is increasing. The relative health risks from food vary by climate, diet, income, and public infrastructure. Food of animal origin poses health risks particularly when it is improperly prepared or inadequately refrigerated. Microbial contamination is of special concern in developing countries. Non-microbial contaminants include metals and persistent organic pollutants. Other growing health concerns related to food production are diseases passed from animals to humans (zoonoses), toxin-containing animal wastes, and overuse of antibiotics in livestock production that may cause allergies or render human antibiotics less effective. Local food production is critical to eliminating hunger and promoting rural development in areas where the poor do not have the capacity to purchase food from elsewhere. The number of food-insecure people is growing fastest in developing regions, where underdeveloped market infrastructures and limited access to resources prevent food needs from being satisfied by international trade alone. In these areas, local food production is critical to eliminating hunger and providing insurance against rising food prices. In addition, rural households gain income and employment from engaging in food provision enterprises. In sub-Saharan Africa, two thirds of the population relies on agriculture or agriculture-related activities for their livelihoods. Maintaining a focus on raising the productivity of food production systems continues to be a priority for both global food security and environmental sustainability. While major cereal staples are likely to continue as the foundation of the human food supply, some doubts are being raised about our ability to reproduce past yield growth in the future-especially with regard to sustaining rates of yield growth in high-productivity systems that are already producing near the yield potential threshold, as well as in terms of the availability of land that is suitable for sustaining expanded food output needs.
21st Century Anthropology: A Reference Handbook, 2010
Food: Plants and animals Today the world population is 6.7 billion people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (2009). In 1900, there were “only” 1.65 billion people on earth, 2.5 billion by 1950, with a projected 9 billion by 2050. While a number of factors have affected this exponential increase, not the least of which is reallocation of resources and labor (Boone, 2002), the abundance and distribution of food has played a major role, spurring technology to increase production and distribution. The result is the food crisis emerging in this early part of the 21st century.
Nutritional and Medicinal Values of Plant Food
Economic Botany, 2005
Agroecology deals with the application of ecological principles in agroecosystems, and represents a logical response to shortcomings of conventional agriculture. The book by Clements and Shrestha elaborates on several aspects of this 'new' approach, focusing on soil-related issues, pest, disease and weed problems, and their integrated management, the integration of livestock in agriculture, the potential role of transgenic plants in such systems, and future research and teaching challenges. Each chapter is written by different contributors mostly based in the US. The presentation is rather dull, and the reader has to know his/her ropes: a lot of terms are used without introduction or further explanation. This might limit the number of potential readers. The book hesitates between being a text book that could be used in class (but then it is not complete nor didactic enough), and being a collection of papers dealing with all or most issues that are still pending, and here also I am afraid the book is not complete. The big question of whether and how agroecology will feed the world is not addressed: economic and financial cost/benefit and the economics of agroecology are nowhere discussed. If agroecology has to become the guiding principle of international agriculture for the near future, then it should also be able to address such issues as drought and salinity stress, or depleted soils-these themes, however, are only touched upon very superficially when dealing with other subjects. Moreover, Third World agriculture only receives marginal attention, whereas rice, which is by far the most important (tropical) crop, is only dealt with in relation with soil microbiology, and not as a crop. The conclusion is that the book is quite incomplete, and sometimes even too superficial to be a good introduction to the theme of agroecology. Some capita selecta are interesting reads, but the overall impression remains that this theme deserved better.
Animal-source foods (ASF) have the potential to enhance the nutritional adequacy of cereal-based diets in low-and middle-income countries, through the provision of high-quality protein and bioavailable micronutrients. The development of guidelines for including ASF in local diets requires an understanding of the nutrient content of available resources. This article reviews food composition tables (FCT) used in sub-Saharan Africa, examining the spectrum of ASF reported and exploring data sources for each reference. Compositional data are shown to be derived from a small number of existing data sets from analyses conducted largely in high-income nations, often many decades previously. There are limitations in using such values, which represent the products of intensively raised animals of commercial breeds, as a reference in resource-poor settings where indigenous breed livestock are commonly reared in low-input production systems, on mineral-deficient soils and not receiving nutritionally balanced feed. The FCT examined also revealed a lack of data on the full spectrum of ASF, including offal and wild foods, which correspond to local food preferences and represent valuable dietary resources in food-deficient settings. Using poultry products as an example, comparisons are made between compositional data from three high-income nations, and potential implications of differences in the published values for micronutrients of public health significance, including Fe, folate and vitamin A, are discussed. It is important that those working on nutritional interventions and on developing dietary recommendations for resource-poor settings understand the limitations of current food composition data and that opportunities to improve existing resources are more actively explored and supported.
West African Food Composition Table/ Table De Composition Des Aliments D'afrique De L'ouest
The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of FAO. Les appellations employées dans ce produit d'information et la présentation des données qui y figurent n'impliquent de la part de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO) aucune prise de position quant au statut juridique ou au stade de développement des pays, territoires, villes ou zones ou de leurs autorités, ni quant au tracé de leurs frontières ou limites. La mention de sociétés déterminées ou de produits de fabricants, qu'ils soient ou non brevetés, n'entraîne, de la part de la FAO, aucune approbation ou recommandation desdits produits de préférence à d'autres de nature analogue qui ne sont pas cités. Les opinions exprimées dans ce produit d'information sont celles du/des auteur(s) et ne reflètent pas nécessairement celles de la FAO.
Food Systems and Natural Resources
United Nations eBooks, 2016
The report went through a peer review process coordinated by Elias Ayuk with the support of the IRP Secretariat. The authors thank the anonymous peer reviewers for their constructive comments. Special thanks go to Janez Potočnik and Ashok Khosla, Co-Chairs of the IRP during the preparation of this report, for their dedication and commitment, as well as to all members of the IRP and its Steering Committee for their constructive comments. The Secretariat of the IRP coordinated the preparation of this report with the technical support of María José Baptista.
Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Agriculture-
Proceedings of the 2 nd International Symposium on Agriculture 2019, 2019
Wild greens make up a significant source of antioxidants and Phyto-chemicals. In recent times natural antioxidants have gained considerable interest among nutritionists, food manufacturers, and consumers because of their safety, potential therapeutic value, and long shelf life. Minerals are inorganic substances used by the body in many ways. Three Wild Green Leafy Vegetables (WGLVs) such as Allmania nodiflora, Borreria hispida and Rivea ornata were selected based on the market survey. The analysis for Vitamin C, Total Phenolic Content (TPC) and Total Antioxidant Activities (TAA) was carried out using fresh WGLVs. Selected Dry WGLVs were also used to investigate some essential major elements such as Na, K, Ca and Mg by using standard methods of food analysis. The Vitamin C content was determined by 2, 4-dinitrophenyl hydrazine method (DNPH), TPC was measured using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent method and TAA was determined by the ferric reducing ability method. Among these leafy vegetables Rivea ornata shows higher Vitamin C, TPC and higher K, Ca and Mg content. Allmania nodiflora shows high TAA and Na content. Keywords: Wild Green Leafy Vegetables, Vitamin C, Total Phenolic Content