Exotic fruits from India

Recently there has been growing consumer interest in “exotic” (terminology currently used to refer to “mysteriously different” or “unusual”) fruits due to anecdotal claims of their medicinal values and purported health benefits. This has been fueled, in part, by a shift in ethnic demographics as immigrants bring native foods common to their cultures to the Western marketplace. Popular examples of such fruits include the pomegranate, açaí, goji berries, mangosteen, and noni.

Although exotic fruits are found in all parts of the world, India, which is blessed by a rich diversity of climatic zones—from tropical to tundra—is home to several exotic fruits that have attracted recent consumer attention. A perennial leader in the production of amla also known as Indian gooseberry, mango, papaya, and tamarind, India also produces what many regard as the sweetest pomegranates available.

Because of India's strong agricultural foundation and its thousands of years of traditional medicinal use of fruits, as well as the recent focus of modern research into the bioactive properties of the fruits, we are now graced with a growing wealth of knowledge on the potential uses for what we may call the Indian superfruits: pomegranate, mango, papaya, amla, and tamarind.

These fruits include the pomegranate, amla, and jamun berries. In terms of their phytochemistry, these fruits share a commonality in that they all contain ellagitannins (ETs), a family of polyphenols that have been linked with a diverse range of biological activities.

ETs are obtained in the Western diet primarily through the consumption of berries and tree nuts such as strawberries, red and black raspberries, walnuts, and almonds. Emerging science has demonstrated that ET-rich foods may impart human health benefits, including antineurodegenerative, antidiabetic, and anticancer properties.

Although many drug-discovery research groups seek to identify single active ingredients in medicinal foods, there has been a shift in this paradigm in the functional foods and dietary supplement arenas. This is because multiple phytochemicals present in a complex food matrix may provide better protection through complementary, additive, or synergistic effects.

Therefore the consumption of bioactive food components in whole foods and their derived extracts offers an attractive dietary strategy for the prevention or delay of onset of several chronic human diseases. Due to the paucity of clinical data, however, there is great need for well-designed human clinical studies to substantiate the health claims of many of these fruits.
 

Pomegranate

Pomegranate juice, peels, and seeds are an ancient mainstay of Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine. Pomegranate deserves special mention among the aforementioned fruits, because it has the most published clinical data to support its health benefits, specifically against cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer.

The fruit peel is a rich source of hydrolyzable ETs, including punicalagins, punicalins, gallagic acid, several ellagic acid-glucose esters, and oligomeric ETs. Pomegranate juice obtained from squeezing the whole fruit provides more potent antioxidants than other common fruit juices.

Since 2006, the antioxidants in pomegranate fruit extracts and juices have been studied in vivo or clinically for applications in cardiovascular, glycemic, cellular/DNA, and cognitive health, in addition to gender-related health issues. The triple-whammy of antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and antimicrobial effects also has led to research in skin- and oral-care applications.

Bioavailability, metabolism, and ex vivo bioactivities of pomegranate ETs have been established for both juice and extract preparations. On consumption, pomegranate ETs release ellagic acid (EA). Following metabolism by gut flora, the ETs form urolithins that are conjugated in the liver prior to excretion up to 56 hours in urine.

These urolithins circulate in the blood as well and can reach many of the target organs, such as the prostate gland, where the effects of pomegranate ETs have been noted. Pomegranate juice also contains other polyphenols included among its minor constituents, such as anthocyanins, the pigments that impart the red color to the fruit aril and therefore to fruit juice.

Pomegranate extracts have been shown to inhibit prostate cancer xenografts in animal studies and to date there is a phase-II human clinical that suggests effects against prostate cancer. It is noteworthy that ETs previously were shown to exhibit in vitro and in vivo anticarcinogenic properties, such as induction of cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis in vitro.ble.

 Amla


The amla fruit, touted as one of nature's richest sources of vitamin C, is also known to contain ETs and other polyphenols, including emblicanins A and B.4 Amla fruits constitute one of three ingredients in a well-known antioxidant-rich Ayurvedic herbal formulation, Triphala (the other two Indian fruits are Terminalia chebula and T. belerica ).

Amla is used for the treatment of liver diseases, stomach ulcers, inflammatory diseases, and also to inhibit tumor growth, in diabetes and in geriatric complaints. Recently, a preparation of amla fruit was shown to prevent liver toxicity and age-related renal dysfunction.
 

Jamun

Obtained from a large evergreen tree that reaches up to 30 meters in height, Jamun fruits have been valued in both Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicine for possessing a wide variety of therapeutic properties.

Jamun is most often recognized as an adjuvant therapy in type-2 diabetes. This has been traced not only to its anthocyanin-rich, dark-purple fleshy pulp, but also to its seeds, which have been most studied for their antidiabetic principles. Jamun seeds are reported to be a rich source of ETs, including corilagin, gallic acid, and EA.


Jamun fruit seeds and pulp have been reported to serve various purposes in diabetic patients, such as lowering blood glucose levels and delaying diabetic complications including neuropathy and cataracts.  

Mango

Although mango fruit is widely consumed as a whole ripe fruit in diets of tropical populations worldwide, it also is widely consumed in Indian cuisine in mango chutneys, which include preparations of the bitter and unripe mango flesh, seeds, and peel. Mango is a good source of carotenoids, ascorbic acid, quercetin, xanthone, mangiferin, and other polyphenols.

Recently, a mango peel extract prevented degradation of rat erythrocytes, a mango extract prevented mitochondrial oxidative stress in an atherosclerotic mouse model, and the mango triterpene lupeol also has been shown to inhibit certain cancers in in vivo models.
 
Garcinia
 
Garcinia cambogia is a small fruit indigenous to India, where it is often used in Indian cuisine for the purposes of adding a “sour-tasting ingredient” to curries. An extract from G. camobgia fruit and its rind is popularly used with claims of “weight-loss” effects. The fruit and its extract contain large quantities of hydroxycitric acid, which is believed to be the putative active component and is claimed to suppress appetite and enhance fat-burning. 


India ranks second only to China in production of fruit, with 46 million tons produced per year. With this abundant wealth of supply and forthcoming research, India's superfruits are sure to continue to endow the world with an ever-impressive array of fruit-derived ingredients.

Ever heard of the jackfruit?

Surely you have heard of the magnanimous jackfruit! The prickly fruit, characterized by a gasoline smell on the outside and a bubble gum aromatic flesh in inside, is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, with a maximum weight of 36kg. Native to Southwestern India, Bangladesh, Philippines and Sri Lanka, the jackfruit is admired for its incredible taste, texture and edible seeds, similar to chestnuts, found encased in the flesh.

Consumed both in the ripe and unripe forms, jackfruit is a part of some of the most exotic and lip-smacking delicacies across the world. Eaten raw, blended into a fruit salad or as a dessert topping, jackfruits do not lose their nutritional content.

Botanically known as Artocarpus heterorphyllus, the jackfruit is a member of the Mulberry family. Apart from its pulpy flesh, sweet taste and amazing aroma, only a few people are aware of the wholesome benefits that it offers to the body. With the following list of advantages and tips, we promise to make your jackfruit meal a delicious and nutritious one.

History
The exact origin of jackfruit is unknown, although it is believed to be indigenous to the rainforests of the Western Ghats of India, dating back to 3000 to 6000 years ago. Historians relate the discovery of jackfruits with the Indian Emperor, Ashoka, who encouraged the cultivation of several fruits, jackfruit being one of them. In 1782, certain plants were captured from a French ship and were taken to Jamaica and planted there.

About 100 years later, the jackfruit appeared in Florida and was introduced into Brazil in the 19th century. Gradually, the fruit spread to other parts of India, Southeast Asia, East Indies and Philippines. Today, the jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Indonesia. In the Americas, it has successfully flourished in Brazil, San Diego and Florida.

However, the portions of the United States and Canada experience a cold climate making it unsuitable for the growth of jackfruit trees. India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia are some of the major commercial cultivators of jackfruit.

Health benefits of jackfruit
 
 

• Jackfruit serves as an excellent protective agent against viral and bacterial infections due to the presence of Vitamin C in it. In addition, this fruit is known to strengthen the immune system by improving the condition of white blood cells.
• Enriched with phytonutrients, like lignans, isoflavones and saponins that contain anti-cancer and anti-ageing properties, jackfruits are beneficial in eliminating cancer-causing free radicals in the body and inhibiting the degeneration of cells.
• Owing to its anti-ulcer agents, jackfruits are known to digestive disorders.
• These fruits are a great source of fiber. This property helps in avoiding constipation and smoothening bowel movements. Besides, jackfruits protect against the colon mucus membrane by eradicating carcinogenic chemicals from the large intestine.
• Being an excellent source of vitamin A, jackfruits monitor the health of the skin and eyes, specifically by keeping vision-related problems, like macular degeneration and night blindness, at bay.
• With simple sugars such as fructose and sucrose present in jackfruit, it is useful in boosting energy levels, without adding fat or cholesterol to the body.
• Magnesium, found in large amounts in jackfruit, absorb calcium in the body and contribute to strengthening of bones and prevention of bone related disorders like osteoporosis.
• Jackfruits play a significant role in thyroid metabolism due to the presence of copper in their flesh, thereby promoting hormone production and absorption.
• The potassium content in jackfruit is useful in lowering blood pressure thus, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.
• Similar to other fruits and vegetables, jackfruit is also heart-friendly; thanks to the Vitamin B6 that reduces the levels of homocystein in the blood.
• Jackfruit fulfills the iron needs in the body, thereby promoting proper blood circulation and preventing cases of anemia.
• With anti-ageing properties, jackfruits are known to inhibit the degeneration of cells, thereby giving the consumer a younger, suppler and more glowing skin.
• Due to the fact that it has low calories, jackfruits also help in maintaining the body by preventing the deposition of fat and elimination of obesity.
• The roots of jackfruit are extremely beneficial for people suffering from asthma. A concoction prepared by boiling its roots is a good remedy for wheezing and other respiratory problems.
• The extract of jackfruit is known to treat various skin problems, diarrhea and fever.

Tapping jackfruit’s trade potential

Jackfruit remains under-exploited as a food crop in India, despite its huge potential, says C.P. Robert, programme coordinator of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra attached to Indian Council of Agricultural Research at Thelliyoor.

He said KVK was imparting technology training and sharing knowledge with stakeholders to explore the commercial potential of jackfruit.

He said KVK was planning to organise a buyer-seller interface on its Thelliyoor campus soon to showcase various jackfruit products and to facilitate interaction between buyers and entrepreneurs.

Technology

The technology developed for jackfruit products under the project shall also be made available to entrepreneurs, he said.

'The KVK Pathanamthitta’s effort in promoting jackfruit as a fruit with immense commercial potential had paid off and people had started accepting its importance.

Demand for its raw as well as value-added products had gone up in the region, he said.

Dr. Robert said KVK had solved technological bottlenecks in the commercial production of value-added jackfruit products.

Dehydrated products from tender and raw jackfruit, and the seed could be a nutritional dietary supplement. The fruit is rich in potassium, calcium, and iron, he said.

SOURCE THE HINDU

Government to crack whip on traders

The demand for mangoes in the city markets is steadily rising. But one should be cautious while buying this fruit because traders often ripen it using calcium carbide, which is not good for health.

Taking notice of the skyrocketing demand for mangoes in city markets, the health department has decided to test the fruit on the spot to ensure that it is not ripened in calcium carbide.

On Friday, the health department issued directions to health authorities in Jaipur and other cities to check the quality of the fruit.

As the health department doesn't have facilities for testing fruits in its laboratories, its officials have decided to go to the markets, collect samples of mangoes and other fruits. "We have asked the fruit sellers to ripen their fruits in fruit-ripening chambers which are safe for health. They should not use calcium carbide," health department director (health) Dr BR Meena said.

Dr Meena said that calcium carbide is injurious to health. Under the Food Safety and Standard Act 2006, the use of calcium carbide in ripening of fruits is banned.

Officials claimed that they are spreading awareness about hazards of using calcium carbide among fruit vendors. Soon, the officials will be seen in the markets testing the fruits on the spot. They will be given equipment to test the quality of fruits. The department will also make fruit traders aware that flouting the norms of the Act would lead to action, including a fine of Rs1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh along with imprisonment. 

SOURCE TIMES OF INDIA

Kerala asks Tamil Nadu to check high pesticide in vegetables

Kerala has informed Tamil Nadu that vegetables brought from that state were found to have pesticide residues three to five times more than the permissible limit.

This was noticed during random visits recently to certain farmlands in nine districts in Tamil Nadu by a team of Food Safety officials from Kerala after the state launched a drive against sale of vegetables with high pesticides content coming from neighbouring states in the wake of Maggie noodles controversy.

 State government, based on a report prepared by a team of Food Safety officials, has written to Tamil Nadu in this regard, Commissioner of Food Safety T V Anumapa told PTI.

It was a follow up action to the decisions taken at the meeting convened by chief minister Oommen Chandy on June 10 to check the flow of such vegetables to the state.

“Food Safety officials from the state visited two-three farmlands in nine districts of adjacent Tamil Nadu and prepared the report”. The officials visited farmlands in nine districts including Nagercoil, Dindigul, Tirunelveli and Kodaikanal, she said.

An inter-state secretary level meeting has been planned next month to discuss the matter. Kerala was concerned on the issue because at least 80 per cent of the state’s vegetable needs are met by neighbouring states.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Scientist Dr Thomas Biju Mathews of Agricultural University here said normally test results are not conclusive as random samples from open market and neighbouring states are usually taken for the tests.

“The results are always changing. It is a continuous monitoring process,” he added.

On tests conducted on vegetable coming from other states, he said trace level of pesticide was 10 per cent on the samples tested.

SOURCE PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NC State receives $12.4 million grant from Gates Foundation for sweet potato research

North Carolina State University will receive $12.4 million over the next four years from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve a crop that is an important food staple in sub-Saharan Africa – the sweet potato.

The grant will fund work to develop modern genomic, genetic and bioinformatics tools to improve the crop’s ability to resist diseases and insects and tolerate drought and heat. Sweet potatoes are an important food security and cash crop with potential to alleviate hunger, vitamin A deficiency and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

More than 13.5 million metric tons are produced in sub-Saharan Africa annually; they are predominantly grown in small plot holdings by poor women farmers.

A priority crop for the Gates Foundation’s Agricultural Development Program, the sweet potato has a complex genetic blueprint. Lack of knowledge about the crop’s complex genome and lack of modern breeding tools for the crop currently hamper efforts to expand production.

Dr. Craig Yencho, an NC State professor of horticultural science who heads the university’s sweet potato breeding program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is the project director. He says that sweet potatoes have a number of valuable characteristics that make them an attractive African crop.

“Sweet potato is a hardy crop that can be planted in drought-prone and low-fertility soils,” Yencho said. “Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, which are an excellent source of vitamin A, rank first in nutritional quality among root and tuber crops grown in sub-Saharan Africa, providing vitamins for millions of people.”

He adds that – besides the crop improvement work – it’s important to build a network of young scientists who can use the new breeding tools and techniques built in this golden era of genomics.

“NC State has a long history of commitment to developing Africa’s sweet potato breeding programs,” Yencho said. “We will work very closely with the sweet potato breeding community to identify young breeders for advanced training to build long-term capacity in use of genomic breeding. During the project term, we will make efforts in training to ensure that new researchers and partners are fully capable of employing newly developed tools.”

NC State co-primary investigators include Dr. Fred Wright, professor of statistics and director of the Bioinformatics Research Center; Dr. Dr. Zhao-Bang Zeng, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Statistics and Biological Sciences; Dr. Dahlia Nielsen, associate professor of biological sciences; Dr. Jennifer Schaff, director of NC State’s Genomics Research Laboratory; and Dr. Lina Quesada-Ocampo, assistant professor and extension specialist in plant pathology.

Partners on the grant include the International Potato Center; Michigan State University; the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University; the University of Queensland; the National Crops Resources Research Institute in Uganda; and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Ghana.

SOURCE: SOUTHEASTFARMEXPRESS.COM

In The New Globalized Diet, Wheat, Soy And Palm Oil Rule

These days you can fly to far corners of the world and eat pretty much the same food you can get back home. There's pizza in China and sushi in Ethiopia.

A new scientific study shows that something similar is true of the crops that farmers grow. Increasingly, there's a standard global diet, and the human race is depending more and more on a handful of major crops for much of its food.

At the same time, all over the world, people are eating a bigger variety of foods. But until now, no one had crunched the numbers to see whether global diets were overall getting less — or more — diverse.

"We wanted to know, really, how many crops feed the world, and what's happening with them," says Colin Khoury, a visiting researcher at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, or CITA , in Cali, Colombia.

Khoury and his collaborators went through 50 years of data collected by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. And they uncovered two big trends.

The first: "Hey, actually, there's places where diets are diversifying, where they're adding crops," says Khoury.

In parts of Asia, such as China, rice is a declining portion of the average person's diet as they add other foods that are now more available. In the U.S., meanwhile, people are eating more imported foods, like mangoes and coconut water.

But here's the second discovery: Those bigger menus of food also are getting more and more similar to each other, from Nanjing to Nairobi. Everybody is relying more and more heavily on a few dozen global megafoods.

Many of those foods are part of what you'd call a standard Western diet, including wheat, potatoes and dairy. But other megacrops come from the tropics, such as palm oil. "It's grown on a large scale in Malaysia and Indonesia, but it's become a global commodity in diets essentially everywhere," says Khoury.

Smaller crops, meanwhile, are getting pushed aside. Sorghum and millet, for instance, are grown quite widely around the world, but they're losing out to corn and soybeans. Other small crops that you only find in certain areas could disappear altogether.

"In the Andes, aside from the potato, most of the rest of the traditional roots and tubers, crops like oca and maca, are declining in the amount of production and the amount of consumption," says Khoury.

A lot of things are driving this trend, he says. There's a rise in international trade, but also "people moving to cities, having more access to supermarkets, to fast food, having less time to cook, not having gardens."

The trend toward greater dependence on fewer crops continues, Khoury says. And so do the risks. It's dangerous to depend on just a few crops, because any one of them could be hit by some disaster, such as disease.

But governments and international organizations can still help to safeguard diversity in food sources. They can act to preserve the many genetic varieties of megacrops that still exist, and also preserve and encourage cultivation of minor crops, he says.

Rachel Laudan, a historian at the University of Texas and author of Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History, says it's important to remember that what drives the rise and fall of crops is demand for them after they've been transformed into something mouth-watering. "They're only interesting if they've been processed in some way," she says.

Think of all the things people do with wheat, she says. "You can get bread. You can get flatbread. You can get cakes. You can get pie. You can get beer!"

That's what turned wheat into a megacrop. Root crops, by contrast, were difficult to store, transport or process into interesting foods.

We could still turn some of these minor crops into attractive foods if there's enough interest in them, she says. In fact, interest may be reviving.

Consumers in the U.S. and Europe are snapping up little-known tropical fruits and so-called ancient grains, like farro and quinoa. Perhaps some of those minor crops can get their own spot on the global menu.