Global plant diversity as a reservoir of micronutrients
I speak with Aoife Cantwell-Jones about the promise of plant diversity for the future of nutrient rich foods for humanity.
Today, nearly 2 billion people suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Labeled as the ‘hidden hunger’, this puts them at greater risk of infection, lower cognitive function, and leads to 1 million premature deaths. A new study published in the journal Nature Plants reports that there are 1,044 edible plant species that show promise as key sources of B vitamins. I speak with the lead author of the study, PhD student Aoife Cantwell-Jones, about their findings. She also shares some fun stories from her current work on expedition in the Arctic circle, where she studies bumblebees and plants in the wild! Learn more about her research on Twitter.
About Aoife
Aoife (Effah) Cantwell-Jones (she/her) is a PhD student researcher at Imperial College London. She is currently researching how bumblebees interact with plants and the mechanisms underpinning them, and how they could potentially jeopardized by climate change, involving months of fieldwork studying a bumblebee community in Arctic Sweden.
Before her PhD, Aoife had the opportunity during her master's degree to work alongside researchers at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London, where she studied edible plant diversity and its potential for human nutrition. Her research there resulted in a publication (in the high-impact journal Nature Plants), as well as the Southwood Award for being an outstanding student.
Throughout her academic journey, Aoife has been committed to sharing the story of her research, and has so far published four manuscripts, written blog posts and has had some of her bumblebee research featured on the UK news.
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Yours in health, Dr. Quave
Cassandra L. Quave, Ph.D. is a scientist, author, speaker, podcast host, wife, mother, explorer, and professor at Emory University School of Medicine. She teaches college courses and leads a group of research scientists studying medicinal plants to find new life-saving drugs from nature. She hosts the Foodie Pharmacology podcast and writes the Nature’s Pharmacy newsletter to share the science behind natural medicines. To support her effort, consider a paid or founding subscription, with founding members receiving an autographed 1st edition hardcover copy of her book, The Plant Hunter.
Great to learn of my shared interest in phytonutrients in wild plants. My work for the last 40 years has been on the food resources of the World's longest living culture. My book, Wild Foods; Looking back 60,000 years for clues to our future survival, addresses the significance of the falling nutritional value of our food supply and the value of the wild foods as a panacea for our growing health problems. See https://wildfoodscience.com for an overview of the contents.
My website, https://cherikoff.net, covers more details on food:health relationships and specifically this index: https://cherikoff.net/category/wild-foods-and-nutrition/.
Another, https://wildfoodnutrition.life cover the range of phytonutrients and a product that was developed to boost the nutrition of our modern diet.
My collection of just 4 wild food enhanced products presented in https://aussiesuperfoods.com are aimed at the diseases of nutrition.
I have been extremely fortunate in being able to work with Indigenous Australians across the continent and explore the foods, their range and quality. One discovery from back in 1983 was the World's highest fruit source of vitamin C (the Kakadu plum) which is still the record-holder some 40 years later at 50 times the ascorbic acid content than oranges.
In Australia, we are dealing with:
* unrelenting cultural disruption and loss of traditional knowledge and languages
* a lack of ecosystem management policies
* the Climate Crisis/Catastrophe
* over-development and loss of biodiversity
* mining and ‘renewable’ energy production
* conventional farming and water ‘management’
* land clearing, weed infestation and feral animals all out of control
* the growing over-population which is far and above the country’s carrying capacity
* useless career politicians and a vacuum of political leadership
* a 'green' party more focused on gender and social issues than the environment
Read More: https://cherikoff.net/health-talk-16-look-what-theyve-done-to-my-brain-ma/
and discover the functional (nutritional, antimicrobial, culinary or cosmetic) uses of the wild resources of the world's longest living culture.