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Friday, 8 May 2015

Nutrient composition of selected traditional United States Northern Plains Native American plant foods

Journal of Food Composition and Analysis
Volume 34, Issue 2, June 2014, Pages 136–152
Original Research Article

Nutrient composition of selected traditional United States Northern Plains Native American plant foods ☆ ☆☆


doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2014.02.010
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Highlights

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Ten traditional Native American Plains Indian plant foods sampled from 3 locations.
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Assayed vitamins, elements, proximates, dietary fiber, folate vitamers, and carotenoids.
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Many of the traditional foods rich in Mn, Mg, dietary fiber, carotenoids, and vitamin K.
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Wild rose hips (Rosa pratincola) exceptional source of vitamin C and carotenoids.

Abstract

Ten wild plants (cattail broad leaf shoots, chokecherries, beaked hazelnuts, lambsquarters, plains prickly pear, prairie turnips, stinging nettles, wild plums, raspberries, and rose hips) from three Native American reservations in North Dakota were analyzed to expand composition information of traditional foraged plants. Proximates, dietary fiber (DF), vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, and folate vitamers were assayed using standard methods and reference materials. Per serving, all were rich in Mn (100–2808 μg). Several provided >10% DRI of Fe (cattail shoots, steamed lambsquarters, and prairie turnips), Ca (steamed lambsquarters, prickly pear, and prairie turnips), Mg (cattail shoots, lambsquarters, prickly pear, and prairie turnips), vitamins B6 (chokecherries, steamed lambsquarters, broiled prickly pear, and prairie turnips), C (raw prickly pear, plums, raspberries, rose hips (426 mg/100 g), and K (cattail shoots, chokecherries, lambsquarters, plums, rose hips, and stinging nettles). DF was >10 g/serving in chokecherries, prairie turnips, plums and raspberries. Rose hips, plums, lambsquarters, and stinging nettles were carotenoid-rich (total, 3.2–11.7 mg/100 g; β-carotene, 1.2–2.4 mg/100 g; lutein/zeaxanthin, 0.9–6.2 mg/100 g) and lycopene (rose hips only, 6.8 mg/100 g). Folate (primarily 5-methyltetrahydrofolate) was highest in raw lambsquarters (97.5 μg/100 g) and notable in cattail shoots, raw prairie turnips, and blanched stinging nettles (10.8, 11.5, and 24.0 μg/100 g, respectively). Results, provided to collaborating tribes and available in the National Nutrient Database of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (www.ars.usda.gov/nutrientdata), support reintroduction or increased consumption of foraged plants.

Keywords

  • Food composition;
  • Food analysis;
  • Native American diet;
  • Indigenous food system;
  • Biodiversity and nutrition;
  • Wild food;
  • Foraged food;
  • Chokecherry;
  • Chenopodium album L.;
  • Wild raspberry;
  • Psoralea esculenta Pursh.;
  • Urtica dioica L.;
  • Rosa pratincola Greene;
  • Ascorbic acid;
  • Folate vitamers;
  • Vegetables;
  • Fruits
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Mention of a trademark or proprietary product does not constitute a guarantee of the product by the United States Department of Agriculture and does not imply its approval to the exclusion of other products that may also be suitable.
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US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research, Northern Plains Area is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and all agency services are available without discrimination.

Corresponding author at: USDA, ARS Nutrient Data Laboratory, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Building 005, Room 208A, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA. Tel.: +1 301 504 0630; fax: +1 301 504 0632.
Copyright © 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.
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