Nutrition potential of breadfruit explored
Breadfruit, a source of high-energy food, has been a staple in the Pacific for more than 3,000 years and is widely cultivated in the Caribbean and other tropical regions.
However, in many Pacific islands, breadfruit diversity is declining because of damage from hurricanes, drought, and loss of cultural knowledge.
A long-term conservation project is already underway in the hope of preventing it from further decline.
And as part of this, Susan Murch, Canada Research Chair in natural products chemistry at The University of British Columbia, Okanagan is looking at how the plant can be used to improve nutrition in North America.
One area of interest to food manufacturers is that breadfruit fruits can be dried and ground to produce gluten-free flour high in several vitamins and protein, making it potentially useful as a food additive, supplement or hypoallergenic alternative to wheat flour, according to a UBC report called “Preserving the Bounty of Breadfruit”.
Similarly as part of the collaborative research project involving the Breadfruit Institute, UBC Okanagan and the University of Guelph, Murch is working on ways to make it much more abundant and help improve food security in tropical regions as well as creating new food products for North America.
Murch said that she wants to understand the role that plants play in human health and added: “Everything we eat comes from a plant or something that ate a plant.
“The nutrients and phytochemicals we consume can greatly affect our wellbeing.
“Understanding the mechanisms of a plant has a huge impact on how human health will progress through the next 50 years and on how we can feed and care for the growing population in the world.
“My work is all about the nutrition in breadfruit and the distribution of breadfruit.”
Murch is working with a collection of more than breadfruit trees, at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) in Maui, Hawaii, which was established in the 1970s and 1980s.
Each tree is a unique variety collected from a different Pacific island, with different nutritional composition and environmental requirements.
The researchers are developing new ways to maintain, conserve, mass propagate, and distribute the most beneficial traditional varieties using plant tissue culture and biotechnology techniques.
Murch has partnered with the NTBG, the government of Western Samoa, and a commercial horticultural company called Cultivaris in San Diego, California, to mass-produce and distribute trees.
She said: “Breadfruit is a tree that most people in North America have not heard of, but has huge value for food security.
“A single tree can produce 150 to 200 kilograms of food per year. But distribution of breadfruit to feed people who are starving has been limited by difficulties propagating and transporting the trees.”
According to a seperate study published by the International Society for Horticultural Science, breadfruit has a pale color and bland taste, making it suitable for a range of produce. Also, because of its starch content, corn, rice and potato products can be duplicated using the fruit.
Source: UBC Reports,Volume 54, No. 12, December 4, 2008
Preserving the Bounty of Breadfruit
Authors: Raina Ducklow and Bud Mortenson
