Ray-Yu Yang

Fruit quality and bioactive compounds with antioxidant activity of tomatoes grown on-farm: comparison of organic and conventional management systems.

Replicated field trials at three matched farm pairs in southern and central Taiwan were established in October 2004 and 2005 to compare fruit quality and nutritional parameters of tomatoes grown on-farm under organic versus conventional management systems in tropical and subtropical environments. Two processing tomato varieties were evaluated using a randomized complete block design at each of the farms. Aggregation of farms by type (organic vs conventional) across two years resulted in no significant differences between organic and conventional farming systems for all tomato fruit parameters measured, including quality (pH, soluble solids, acidity, and color), content of bioactive compounds with antioxidant activity (beta-carotene, lycopene, ascorbic acid, and total phenolics), and antioxidant activity. This study indicated no consistent effect of the farming system on tomato fruit parameters. Farm management skills combined with site-specific effects contributed to high lycopene levels, and the choice of variety significantly influenced the content of bioactive compounds, particularly ascorbic acid and total phenolics.

Biofortification of mungbean (Vigna radiata) as a whole food to enhance human health

Mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek var. radiata) is one of the most important pulse crops grown in South, East and Southeast Asia. It provides significant amounts of protein (240 g kg(-1)) and carbohydrate (630 g kg(-1)) and a range of micronutrients in diets. Mungbean protein and carbohydrate are easily digestible and create less flatulence than proteins derived from other legumes. In addition, mungbean is lower in phytic acid (72% of total phosphorus content) than pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.), soybean (Glycine max L.) and cereals; phytic acid is commonly found in cereal and legume crops and has a negative impact on iron and zinc bioavailability in plant-based diets. Owing to its palatable taste and nutritional quality, mungbean has been used as an iron-rich whole food source for baby food. The wide genetic variability of mineral concentrations (e.g. 0.03-0.06 g Fe kg(-1), 0.02-0.04 g Zn kg(-1)) in mungbean indicates possibilities to improve its micronutrient content through biofortification. Therefore biofortification of existing mungbean varieties has great potential for enhancing the nutritional quality of diets in South and Southeast Asia, where protein and micronutrient malnutrition are among the highest in the world. This review paper discusses the importance of mungbean in agricultural production and traditional diets and the potential of enhancing the nutritional quality of mungbean through breeding and other means, including agronomic practices.

Overexpression of Arabidopsis thaliana tryptophan synthase beta 1 (AtTSB1) in Arabidopsis and tomato confers tolerance to cadmium stress

Tryptophan (Trp) is an essential amino acid in humans, and in plants, it plays a major role in the regulation of plant development and defence responses. However, little is known about Trp-mediated cadmium (Cd) tolerance. Gene expression analysis showed that Arabidopsis thaliana tryptophan synthase beta 1 (AtTSB1) is up-regulated in plants treated with Cd; hence, we investigated whether this gene is involved in Cd tolerance. Exogenous application of Trp to wild-type Arabidopsis enhances Cd tolerance. Cd tolerance in the Trp-overproducing mutant trp5-1 was associated with high chlorophyll levels and low lipid peroxidation, as indicated by malondialdehyde 4-hydroxyalkenal level, whereas the wild-type developed symptoms of severe chlorosis. Moreover, the Trp-auxotroph mutant trp2-1 was sensitive to Cd. CaMV 35S promoter-driven AtTSB1 enhanced Trp accumulation and improved Cd tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis and tomato plants without increasing the level of Cd. Moreover, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction confirmed that enhanced level of Trp in AtTSB1 transgenic Arabidopsis plants affected the expression of AtZIP4 and AtZIP9 metal transporters, which interfered with Cd ion trafficking, a mechanism of transcriptional regulation that does not exist in wild-type plants. Overexpression of AtTSB1 in transgenic tomato also produced higher Trp synthase-beta enzyme activity than that in wild-type plants. These results implicate that Trp could be involved in Cd defence.

Variation for antioxidant activity and antioxidants in a subset of AVRDC—the World Vegetable Center Capsicum core collection

Pepper ( Capsicum sp.) is important in human diets in many parts of the world and a major source of several antioxidants, including carotenoids, ascorbic acid, tocopherols and phenolics. More information on genetic diversity within Capsicum for antioxidant (AO) content and antioxidant activity (AOA) could contribute to improved human health. We evaluated 46 Capsicum accessions from AVRDC—the World Vegetable Center Capsicum core collection for content of nine AO (five carotenoids, ascorbic acid, tocopherols α and γ, and total phenolics) and two AOA assays for 2 years in south Taiwan. Ample genetic diversity exists within C. annuum to increase AO content. Based on dry weight values, non-pungent C. annuum entries as a group were significantly greater than pungent entries for contents of β-cryptoxanthin (36%), ascorbic acid (65%), total phenolics (36%) and α-tocopherol (11%). Group means of the brown-fruited entries exceeded the means of red-fruited entries for capsanthin (34%), zeaxanthin (37%), lutein (36%), β-cryptoxanthin (71%), β-carotene (82%), ascorbic acid (19%) and α-tocopherol (40%). Red-fruited C. annuum entries ‘Verdano Poblano’ and ‘Guajillo Ancho’ from Mexico ranked among the entries highest for all carotenoids, ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol. The inhibition of lipid peroxidation (ILP) assay could be adopted for AOA characterization or selection because of high variation among entries and consistent entry performance over years. ILP was positively correlated with phenolics ( r =0.72**) and ascorbic acid ( r =0.58**) contents. Significant positive correlations were detected between most carotenoids as well as a significant positive correlation between ascorbic acid and total phenolics contents ( r =0.78**).

Vegetable gardens and their impact on the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals

The attainment of the Millennium Development Goals is at severe risk, owing to rising malnutrition and high child stunting and mortality rates, greater poverty, a large increase in the incidence of noncommunicable diseases, and lack of progress in womens empowerment. Here, the role of vegetable home, school, community, and disaster recovery gardens as a pro-poor and pro-environment intervention in the developing world is reviewed. This includes the contribution of vegetable gardens in improving food and nutritional security, generating additional income, providing employment, contributing to better health, and helping to empower disadvantaged groups in society. The implications of global research in the tropics and subtropics over the last 20–30 years are assessed over a wide geographic and linguistic range. The effectiveness and sustainability of such interventions are considered in the light of their contribution to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. Suggestions for potential new directions for research are made, and a call for better integration of effort in research and development between the agriculture, nutrition, and health sectors is presented as a key issue if rapid development progress is to be made and sustained.

Momordica charantia and Type 2 Diabetes: From in vitro to Human Studies

Type 2 diabetes is a growing health problem worldwide that is particularly severe in India and China. In these areas, bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) is a popular vegetable which is traditionally known to have health beneficial effects not only, but mainly, on diabetes. Bitter gourd could be a cheap possibility to help the poor in these and other countries to control their blood glucose levels. This review describes anti-diabetic effects of bitter gourd reported in the literature and discusses what still needs to be clarified for developing an evidence-based and safe use of the bitter gourd for diabetes. Analyses of bioactive compounds have shown that bitter gourd is rich in nutrients and phytochemicals of which some have anti-diabetic effects. Juices, powders, extracts, and isolated compounds have been tested in vitro and in vivo. Bitter gourd increases insulin secretion of the pancreas, decreases intestinal glucose uptake, and increases uptake and utilization of glucose in peripheral tissues. Although human studies with type 2 diabetics are weak in their design and/or results, some of the studies do indicate anti-diabetic effects in patients and safety for bitter gourd treatment in humans. In the future, well designed studies with rodents will help to understand what kind of bitter gourd variety, dosage, preparation, and duration of administration is optimal. Such results will help to design human studies which are necessary to prove the effectiveness of bitter gourd in patients.

Complementary school garden, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene interventions to improve children's nutrition and health status in Burkina Faso and Nepal: a study protocol.

BackgroundMalnutrition and intestinal parasitic infections are common among children in Burkina Faso and Nepal. However, specific health-related data in school-aged children in these two countries are scarce. In the frame of a larger multi-stakeholder project entitled “Vegetables go to School: Improving Nutrition through Agricultural Diversification” (VgtS), a study has been designed with the objectives to: (i) describe schoolchildren’s health status in Burkina Faso and Nepal; and to (ii) provide an evidence-base for programme decisions on the relevance of complementary school garden, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions.Methods/DesignThe studies will be conducted in the Centre Ouest and the Plateau Central regions of Burkina Faso and the Dolakha and Ramechhap districts of Nepal. Data will be collected and combined at the level of schools, children and their households. A range of indicators will be used to examine nutritional status, intestinal parasitic infections and WASH conditions in 24 schools among 1144 children aged 8–14 years at baseline and a 1-year follow-up. The studies are designed as cluster randomised trials and the schools will be assigned to two core study arms: (i) the ‘complementary school garden, nutrition and WASH intervention’ arm; and the (ii) ‘control’ arm with no interventions. Children will be subjected to parasitological examinations using stool and urine samples and to quality-controlled anthropometric and haemoglobin measurements. Drinking water will be assessed for contamination with coliform bacteria and faecal streptococci. A questionnaire survey on nutritional and health knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) will be administered to children and their caregivers, also assessing socioeconomic, food-security and WASH conditions at household level. Focus group and key-informant interviews on children’s nutrition and hygiene perceptions and behaviours will be conducted with their caregivers and school personnel.DiscussionThe studies will contribute to fill a data gap on school-aged children in Burkina Faso and Nepal. The data collected will also serve to inform the design of school-based interventions and will contribute to deepen the understanding of potential effects of these interventions to improve schoolchildren’s health in resource-constrained settings. Key findings will be used to provide guidance for the implementation of health policies at the school level in Burkina Faso and Nepal.Trial registrationISRCTN17968589 (date assigned: 17 July 2015)

Bitter gourd reduces elevated fasting plasma glucose levels in an intervention study among prediabetics in Tanzania

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes mellitus have become major health issues even in non-industrialized countries. As access to clinical management is often poor, dietary interventions and alternative medicines are required. For bitter gourd, Momordica charantia L., antidiabetic properties have been claimed. AIM OF THE STUDY The main objective of the intervention study was to assess antidiabetic effects of daily bitter gourd consumption of 2.5g powder over the course of eight weeks among prediabetic individuals. MATERIALS AND METHODS In a randomized placebo-controlled single blinded clinical trial, 52 individuals with prediabetes were studied after consuming a bitter gourd or a cucumber juice. For reducing the impact of between subject differences in the study population, a crossover design was chosen with eight weeks for each study period and four weeks washout in between. Fasting plasma glucose was chosen as the primary outcome variable. RESULTS Comparing the different exposures, the CROS analysis (t=-2.23, p=0.031, r=0.326) revealed a significant difference in the change of FPG of 0.31mmol/L (5.6mg/dL) with a trend (R2=0,42387). The number of 44 finally complete data sets achieved a power of 0.82, with a medium-to-large effect size (Cohens d 0.62). The effect was also proven by a general linear mixed model (estimate 0.31; SE: 0.12; p: 0.01; 95%CI: 0.08; 0.54). Not all participants responded, but the higher the initial blood glucose levels were, the more pronounced the effect was. No serious adverse effects were observed. CONCLUSIONS Bitter gourd supplementation appeared to have benefits in lowering elevated fasting plasma glucose in prediabetes. The findings should be replicated in other intervention studies to further investigate glucose lowering effects and the opportunity to use bitter gourd for dietary self-management, especially in places where access to professional medical care is not easily assured.

Impact of school gardens in Nepal: a cluster randomised controlled trial

ABSTRACT This study evaluates the combined impact of school gardens linked to complementary lessons and promotional activities about gardening and nutrition on the nutritional awareness, knowledge, perceptions, eating behaviour and nutritional status of 10- to 15-year-old schoolchildren in Nepal. We used a cluster randomised controlled trial design to collect data from 30 schools and a sample of 1275 and 785 schoolchildren for the 2014 and 2015 school years, respectively. After one year of intervention, we found a significant (p < 0.01) increase in children’s awareness about fruit and vegetables, their knowledge about sustainable agriculture, their knowledge about food, nutrition and health and their stated preferences for eating fruit and vegetables. However, these improvements in intermediary outcomes did not translate into significant improvements in fruit and vegetable consumption or nutritional status. To influence children’s food decisions, it may be required to work more intensively with parents and to increase the availability of fruit and vegetables at the household and community level.

Nutritional composition of mungbean and soybean sprouts compared to their adult growth stage

This study determined the level of phytonutrients in mungbean and soybean sprouts compared to mature mungbean grain and vegetable soybean. The comparison included landraces and improved mungbean and soybean varieties to assess the effect of breeding on the phytonutrient content of both crops. Sprouting mungbean enhanced vitamin C content 2.7-fold compared to mature mungbean grain. Relatively old mungbean accessions were superior in protein, calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), carotenoid and vitamin C content compared to improved mungbean lines at the fully mature stage. With regard to nutritional value, the vegetable soybean stage was superior to soybean sprouts in terms of content of protein (14% increase), Zn (45%), Ca (72%), and Fe (151%). Isoflavones, reported to have beneficial effects on human health, are found at high concentrations in soybean sprouts and could easily provide the recommended anticarcinogenic dose range from 1.5 to 2.0mg/kg of body weight per day.