Articles
Contributions of indigenous vegetables and fruits to dietary diversity and quality
Article number
1102_27
Pages
213 – 228
Language
English
Abstract
The world has a historically unprecedented abundance of food, though contemporary food systems face numerous new challenges from population growth, natural resource depletion, and rapid dietary transitions away from diverse, locally-sourced and sustainable mix of foods towards diets dominated by homogenous, highly-processed, energy-dense, and animal-source foods The alarming increase in diet and lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) alongside persistent poverty and undernutrition demands a reassessment of dietary choices, guidelines, policies and programmes.
This paper examines the evidence for the contribution of diverse foods, particularly indigenous fruits and vegetables, to a culturally-acceptable, cost-effective, sustainable, and nutritious diet.
Indigenous fruits and vegetables are defined as locally-produced (usually within traditional systems), socially and culturally accepted as local foods, and eaten by previous generations or introduced for a very long time.
While not a distinct category, these foods tend to be neglected and underutilized by research organizations, food processers and marketers and consumers.
Providing the right recommendations for a diverse, healthy diet to maintain good nutrition and help prevent obesity and diet-related NCDs, including cardiovascular diseases, some cancers and Type 2 diabetes, is challenging.
We need to better understand the linkages between biodiversity, dietary diversity, and nutrition and health outcomes in order to make evidence-based recommendations, including dietary guidelines.
This will require improved indicators and measurement systems for defining and monitoring agricultural biodiversity, dietary diversity, dietary quality and selected nutrition and health outcomes.
There is good evidence of the importance for food and nutrition security of consumption, production and marketing of fruits and vegetables.
Evidence for the role of specific indigenous fruits and vegetables in improving diet quality is mostly limited to small observational studies examining specific foods or cluster of foods and various outcome measures.
There is a lack of longitudinal studies and reviews examining the relationship between long-term consumption of indigenous fruits and vegetables (at food group level or below) and diet and disease outcomes.
These limitations have not stopped unsubstantiated health and nutrition claims for some foods that undermine valid cultural and economic attributes.
The cultural, environmental, economic and nutritional benefits associated with the consumption of indigenous fruits and vegetables is an important and much needed area of study and will benefit from careful attention to experimental design, choice and use of indicators, food identification, nutrient composition, and dietary and food preparation practices, along with data analysis and presentation.
This paper examines the evidence for the contribution of diverse foods, particularly indigenous fruits and vegetables, to a culturally-acceptable, cost-effective, sustainable, and nutritious diet.
Indigenous fruits and vegetables are defined as locally-produced (usually within traditional systems), socially and culturally accepted as local foods, and eaten by previous generations or introduced for a very long time.
While not a distinct category, these foods tend to be neglected and underutilized by research organizations, food processers and marketers and consumers.
Providing the right recommendations for a diverse, healthy diet to maintain good nutrition and help prevent obesity and diet-related NCDs, including cardiovascular diseases, some cancers and Type 2 diabetes, is challenging.
We need to better understand the linkages between biodiversity, dietary diversity, and nutrition and health outcomes in order to make evidence-based recommendations, including dietary guidelines.
This will require improved indicators and measurement systems for defining and monitoring agricultural biodiversity, dietary diversity, dietary quality and selected nutrition and health outcomes.
There is good evidence of the importance for food and nutrition security of consumption, production and marketing of fruits and vegetables.
Evidence for the role of specific indigenous fruits and vegetables in improving diet quality is mostly limited to small observational studies examining specific foods or cluster of foods and various outcome measures.
There is a lack of longitudinal studies and reviews examining the relationship between long-term consumption of indigenous fruits and vegetables (at food group level or below) and diet and disease outcomes.
These limitations have not stopped unsubstantiated health and nutrition claims for some foods that undermine valid cultural and economic attributes.
The cultural, environmental, economic and nutritional benefits associated with the consumption of indigenous fruits and vegetables is an important and much needed area of study and will benefit from careful attention to experimental design, choice and use of indicators, food identification, nutrient composition, and dietary and food preparation practices, along with data analysis and presentation.
Authors
B. Cogill
Keywords
fruits, vegetables, indigenous, nutrition, dietary diversity, dietary quality, dietary pattern, superfoods, whole diet, local, traditional, diversity, agrobiodiversity, biodiversity, sustainable diets
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