• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• 제7권6호
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• pp.510-518
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• 2013

This study aims to demonstrate the effect of farming technology on introducing medicinal plants (MP) and wild food plants (WFP) into a traditional agricultural system within peri-urban zones. Field investigations and semi-structured focus group interviews conducted in the Buhozi community showed that 27 health and nutrition problems dominated in the community, and could be treated with 86 domestic plant species. The selected domestic MP and WFP species were collected in the broad neighboring areas of the Buhozi site, and introduced to the experimental field of beans and maize crops in Buhozi. Among the 86 plants introduced, 37 species are confirmed as having both medicinal and nutritional properties, 47 species with medicinal, and 2 species with nutritional properties. The field is arranged in a way that living hedges made from Tithonia diversifolia provide bio-fertilizers to the plants growing along the hedges. The harvest of farming crops does not disturb the MP or WFP, and vice-versa. After harvesting the integrated plants, the community could gain about 40 times higher income, than from harvesting farming crops only. This kind of field may be used throughout the year, to provide both natural medicines and foods. It may therefore contribute to increasing small-scale crop producers' livelihood, while promoting biodiversity conservation. This model needs to be deeply documented, for further pharmaceutical and nutritional use.

• 동아시아식생활학회지
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• 제26권5호
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• pp.466-472
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• 2016

The objectives of the study were to analyze the various nutrient contents of ready-to-use-supplemental-food (RUSF) developed with Eastern African ethnic plants and compare them with commercially available supplemental food (CASF) for infants. RUSF was made with three African plants, including Ficus sur, Amaranthus caudatus, and Prosopis juliflorafa and locally available food ingredients in DR Congo and Ethiopia and was cooked at $180^{\circ}C$ for 20 min in a conventional oven. Macronutrients were analyzed by the AOAC method. Contents of 17 amino acids were analysed with amino acid analyzer, and vitamin $B_1%$ niacin, vitamin $B_6$, and vitamin C were analyzed with HPLC. Isomers of vitamin E were analyzed by GC-FID. The price of RUSF was 0.133 USD per 100g. Contents of macronutrients were not significantly different between developed RUSF and CASF. Results of amino acid analysis showed that most amino acid contents were similar or higher in RUSF compared with CASF. However, glutamic acid and lysine contents were less in RUSF than in CASF. Vitamin E and vitamin $B_1$ contents were more than five times higher in RUSF (22.40, 6.26 mg/100 g, respectively) than in CASF (4.00, 0.80 mg/100 g, respectively). Niacin was about three times higher while vitamin $B_6$ was almost 20 times higher in RUSF than in CASF. However, ascorbic acid was significantly lower in RUSF (3.43 mg/100 g) than in CASF (42.08 mg/100 g). Our study found that the developed localized RUSF showed higher nutrient contents in most micronutrients analyzed except for ascorbic acid. Out of 17 amino acids, glutamic acid and lysine contents in RUSF were less than in CASF. Therefore, further study is needed in order to improve these nutrients contents.