1000 of the under studied wild plants are rich in the B group of vitamins.
By Clare Wilson.
Durian fruit is a fruit.
There is a picture library.
Wild plants are a good source of vitamins and minerals.
There are more than a thousand wild-growing plants that could provide five vitamins from the B group. Lack of B vitamins is a common cause of malnutrition.
Babies with spina bifida can be born if more than four in 10 people in South and South-East Asia don't get enough vitamins. Lack of B vitamins can cause fatigue and weakness in muscles and nerves.
Join us for a mind-blowing festival of ideas and experiences. New Scientist Live is going hybrid, with a live in-person event in Manchester, UK, that you can also enjoy from the comfort of your own home, from 12 to 14 March 2022. Find out more.Some health problems could be reduced by education campaigns about the benefits of consuming these plants.
People around the world get most of their calories from three crops: rice, maize and wheat.
The vitamins and minerals of most plants are not known. The levels of the five B vitamins were predicted by Cantwell-Jones and her colleagues based on how closely each species is related to other plants. The method they used worked using nearly 300 plants.
They used this method to find good sources of this group of vitamins, even though 6 percent of them are as threatened in the wild and a quarter have been preserved in seed banks. The wild durian from the island of Borneo is threatened by the expansion of agriculture and is one of several species of grass included.
There are a number of reasons why people don't eat local plants.
The same method could be used to find out the levels of other vitamins and minerals in plants.
Nature Plants is a journal reference.
There are more on these topics.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
