Apr 23
PAPDA’s critique of the Haitian Government’s Emergency Food Production programme is correct: the programme will worsen the very problems it is supposed to address. Concerned Caricom citizens, with assistance from Bolivia and ALBA, can support Haitian farmers and grassroots organisations to build food production capacity while empowering people at the base and protecting Haiti’s soil, forests and water resources.
Your website is most interesting, thank you.This in response to the recent article by Mervyn Claxton with my compliments.
I have lately been involved in developing a program of health and nutrition for a poor neighborhood on the edge of Granada, Nicaragua. We began by serving a single daily noontime meal (among other things). This was familiar enough to the women of the community, and in this we tested the use of
1] whole grain rice instead of polished/white rice;
2] Moringa oleifera, the outstanding leaf of the tropics in terms of production and nutritional content and
3] peanut butter, a dense nutrient-rich food, complementary to the typically high starch diet that pervades the culture of poverty.
In all three instances, these unusual foods have been well accepted. Whole grain rice was the hardest, the mothers turned their noses up at it, “black rice” they called it, “dirty” they said. But the kids came to love it. The mothers now believe that it is indeed nutrient rich, some still balk at cooking it but we are selling it cheaply to more willing moms, at 10% less cost than the polished/white rice; and response is most encouraging. One crucial key to success in this is that our promoter, Isabel serves samples that are fluffy, beautifully prepared.
Green leaves as food is not an easy sell, but in our years of serving noon meals, we got the kids used to vegetables and new things. Hunger is a great aid in introducing new foods.
Moringa oleifera has the advantage of growing powerfully in almost any tropical environment lower than 400 meters altitude. Considering its potent contents, it is surprising that these leaves are almost tasteless when steamed for a few minutes.
Another important feature: unlike vegetables and fruits, moringa leaves will not be stolen prior to their harvest.
These first two food fixes are very local, even personal. Our third one, peanut butter was the easiest in acceptance, though we have to get the peanuts from about a hundred miles away.
The peanuts we get are about half the price (per pound) of the cheap white bread that is consumed locally. This may seem impossible, except that we buy the peanuts at world market prices from the huge peanut exporter in Nicaragua. Thus we also get peanuts that have been carefully inspected for aflatoxin.
The kids love this stuff, and the mothers do not object.
If you care to pursue this, or if I can be of any help, feel free
http://Www.CousinSparrow.org and http://www.LeafForLife.org
J Sandy Hepler
“John Helper’s experience in persuading Nicaraguan children and their mothers to accept new, non-Northern nutritious foods is very useful, indeed. Green leaves (and even vegetables), as food, is not an easy sell to children in any country. But, as Helper correctly points out, hunger is a great aid in introducing new foods and, by all accounts, hunger is widespread in Haiti. I am not at all surprised that “black rice” (whole grain rice) was the hardest sell in Nicaragua, or that Nicaraguans have given it that particular epithet because they consider it “dirty”. In Europe’s Late Middle Ages, the colour “black” came to be associated with dirt, evil, and many other undesirable qualities – an association that persists to this very day. Non-European peoples, even blacks, have largely assimilated that demeaning association. I discussed that very strange phenomenon in an article in which I devoted an entire section to the topic, The Colour Black: http://www.normangirvan.info/14-north-south-narratives-of-superiority-and-infertiority-3-by-mervyn-claxton/. The section can be found from pages 24 to 38.
I am glad John Helper drew my attention to the Moringa Oleifera food plant, which I had completely overlooked. It grows in Haiti (where it is called the benzolive tree), as it does throughout the Caribbean. Its multiple uses make it a genuine “miracle” plant. The NGO, Trees for the Future, has been running a project in Haiti since 2002, which involves local people planting multi-purpose, fast-growing tree plants, incuding Moringa Oleifera, to reforest degraded hillsides. Most commendably, it has also established a training and resource center in support of that activity. (http://www.treesftf.org/projects/haiti.htm).
Because the plant’s highly nutritious leaves have been successfully used in other parts of the world to combat malnutrition, particularly among infants and nursing mothers, it is even more astonishing that the Haitian Government prefers to import nutritional supplements, instead, to do the job. That further supports my view (and that of PAPDA) that the Emergency’s Programme’s raison d’être is to provide export opportunities for Donor country exports.
By-products of Moringa Oleifera have medicinal value, can be used as soil fertilizer, and also for cooking and lighting oil, but another important use of that versatile plant was recently discovered. It is, perhaps, the most stunning of all. When Moringa seeds are crushed into a powder, the latter can be used as a water-soluble extract, which reduces 90%- 99.99% of bacterial pathogens in previously untreated water. It is a low-cost water-purification technique that could drastically reduce the incidence of water-borne disease in developing countries. Water-borne infectious diseases is the world’s second leading cause of mortality among young children. That discovery was published in a paper by Michael Lea, “Bioremediation of Turbid Surface Water Using Seed Extract from Moringa oleifera Lam. Tree”, Current Protocols in Microbiology, February 2010: ^http://www.currentprotocols.com/protocol/mc01g02
Perhaps, Norm could communicate the info in Helper’s comment, and in this one, to PAPDA and to other concerned Haitian NGOs, activists, and civil society groups who might wish to circulate it within their respective circles. Moringa Oleifera could be the focus of a national programme designed to exploit its many excellent qualities to help promote an alternative development which would be locally sourced and locally driven.
Mervyn Claxton
Drs Claxton & Givran:
Your article on Emergency Food Production in Haiti, and discussion on the site of Dr Givran has opened a door for me. I’m far from Academia but would like to benefit from research. My work in Nicaragua is wholly voluntary, albeit serious and deeply invested. My concerns are long and medium-term solutions. It is clear that different situations will have different solutions; similarly, we realize that there is no single magic bullet.
I seek practical information and specific responses to the following:
^^ Re your recommendation for importing quinua: Apaprently there exists a “sea-level” type. If quinua is this good, should it be grown more widely?
^^ Amaranth– is anyone raising and eating amaranth? Studies?
^^ How would the replacement of polished-white rice by whole-grain rice impact the nutritional status of a rice-eating populace? Any studies, or large-scale experiments on this? [In Nicaragua, the lowland population eats rice 2-3 times per day. Thus small changes in a lot of rice may make a significant difference. Note that the germ, lost by "polishing", is approx. 9% by weight of the rice grain; the value of this is a matter of quality, not easy to measure the loss.]
^^ Have any studies been done on the introduction of peanut butter to a poorly nourished community? [I am aware of Plumpy-Nut, which contains much
more than peanuts, and is an emergency food aimed at weaning and small children.]
What is known about the efficacy of soy products in poverty situations?
Have we any conclusions about Moringa leaves as food from population studies or actual use?
What are other demonstrated strategies for optimal nutrition at low cost?
How do the above crop examples compare in bang-per-buck? This question looks simple but it is critical– What is the most effective way to spend
limited money? [Obviously this is site-specific, still some generalizations may be made.]
I don’t expect hard and fast answers. Would be glad to see studies. J Sandy Hepler
When I read your e-mail message, I thought it was a case of mistaken identity. The questions you asked should really be addressed to an expert on nutrition or a food scientist. I am neither. My area of speciality is sustainable development, taken in the broad sense of the term. It includes political development (democratic governance) as well as socio-economic development, neither of which can be maintained, over the long term, without the other. My approach is multidisciplinary, based on the recognition of the interconnectedness of a number of subject/programme areas which, unfortunately, tend to be treated as discrete areas of knowledge, in academia. It is that multidisciplinary approach which led me to examine the role that food and nutrition play, or could play, in sustainable development. Both have an impact on poverty, health, economic productivity, and educational attainment, but they are not central factors in sustainable development that would require the degree of expertise in the two subject areas which you apparently feel that I possess.
I am copying this response to the persons to whom Norman circulated your comment on my critique of Haiti’s emergency food programme because one of them teaches a course on food and nutrition at university-level. That person would, almost certainly, be in a better position than I to provide you with the detailed information you seek, if he/she so wishes. In any case, I shall try to respond as best I can. I have written two papers on food and nutrition. The first paper, Culture, Food and Nutrition (which I attach) was published in 1998 by the Revue Présence Africaine, a bi-annual cultural review. The second, Culture, Food and Identity, which was posted two years ago, is accessible at Norman’s website;
http://www.normangirvan.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/culturefood-and-identity-6.pdf
You might glean some useful information from both. Although you will find a common core of information in both, the two papers are essentially different. Apart from the fact that the first one deals almost exclusively with the situation in Africa and the second one is more concerned with the Latin American and Caribbean region, the thrust of each is quite different, a difference that is largely reflected in the last word in each title.
In addressing the problems of sustainable development, I always try to identify solutions that are informed by an indigenous perspective – indigenous/local traditions, customs, practices, values etc. I cannot provide you with any help for your question re white rice vs whole-grain rice and the impact which replacing the former by the latter would have on the nutritional status of a rice-eating people. Rice is not one of the foods I consider for my work on sustainable development because it does not fall within the category of indigenous or traditional foods.
However, speaking with a layman’s knowledge (albeit that of an “informed” layman), I should think that the nutritional impact of such a replacement would be considerable. The nutritional elements in the rice kernel are to be found essentially in the layers that are removed by the refining process. What is left is mostly starch (81%-83% carbohydrates). The high carbohydrate content makes white rice an energy food. But, just as a similar “whitening” of black or brown skin removes the melanin that protects the skin from the harmful effects of ultra violet rays, the “whitening” of rice removes the nutrients needed to properly digest the “refined” food (the symbolism is powerful). As a result, the body must plunder its reserves of nutrients for it to be able to digest white rice.
In contrast to the more favoured whitened rice, brown rice retains the nutrients that white rice largely looses in the “whitening” process – vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folacin, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc and copper. But, as I see it, the greatest obstacle in replacing white rice with brown rice with any developing-country population group is not taste but the potent psychological/cultural factor associated with colour, to which I referred in my reponse to your first comment. It affects our attitudes, not only to white rice, but also to white bread and white sugar, both of which lose most of their nutrients in the “whitening” process. The words of the popular song, “if you are white, you’re all right; if you are brown, stick around; if you are black”¦.” reflect values, notions, atitudes, and prejudices which have a powerful resonance in the collective subconscious of all non-European peoples.
But the adverse health effects of white foods must also be considered in a comparison of whitened foods with whole-grain foods. Carbohydrates divide into high and low glycemic index categories. As David Mendosa, a medical consultant and diabetes specialist, explains, the glycemic index (GI) is a numerical system that measures how much of an increase in circulating blood sugar a carbohydrate triggers ““ the higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response. A low GI food will cause a small rise, while a high GI food can trigger a dangerous increase. (Revised International Table of Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL) Values (2008)( http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm).
In the Glycemic Index table, as revised by Mendosa, the GI value of selected foods is indicated, together with a plus or minus figure for the GL value (the latter value and how it differs from the GI value is explained in the text. You will see that the glycemic effect of brown rice (68±4) is less, but not by much, than that of white rice (73±4) but even that small difference places white rice in the danger area. A GI of 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 inclusive is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low. Foods with a glycemic below 55 produce only small fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin level while foods with a level above 70 tend to cause unhealthy spikes in blood sugar.
A very informative article on the comparative nutritional benefits/health risks of whole grain cereals and refined ones, Eat MoreWhole Grains, can be accessed at (http://wellsource.info/wn/hc-wholegrains.pdf). For her part, Denise Mann, White bread, rice and other carbs boost heart disease risk in women, (10 April 2010):
(http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/12/glycemic.diet.heart/index.html) discusses the results of an Italian academic study, according to which, women (though not men) who had the greatest intake of high glycemic foods developed about 2.25 times the risk of developing heart disease than women who consumed the least amounts of such foods. Low glycemic index foods include whole-grain breads (and, presumably, whole-grain rice), barley, quinoa, beans and chickpeas, low-fat dairy products, fruit, and sweet potatoes.
Quinoa
You asked whether sea-level quinoa should be used more widely. I certainly think that it should be grown (and used) more widely, like amaranth, moringa, and several other traditional nutritious foods, including Ethiopian teff (see my Présence Africaine paper for a discussion of teff’s nutritional value). NASA, the American, space agency has done a comparative evaluation of different types of quinoa (see below) which indicates that sea-level quinoa is not as nutritious as the high altitude type. But that finding is surelty the result of intensive development by its indigenous Andean cultivators who live at high altitudes. Living at such altitudes, their natural habitat, they had neither incentive or reason to develop sea-level quinoa. There is considerable evidence that peasant farmers conduct R&D of indigenous foods, which is, in some cases, more advanced than that conducted by modern science. Andean altiplano peasaant farmers have carried research on the potato, which originated in the Andes, further than Western science. They currently plant several hundred varieties. Haitian peasant farmers, and those of other countries in which sea-level quinoa might be introduced, could well do rthe same.
The NASA document evaluating the nutritional merits of quinoa can be accessed at the weblink below. It is based on nine cited scientific documents or studies, one of which I cited in my critique of Haiti’s Emergency food production programme:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19940015664_1994015664.pdf. Because of its high protein values (12-18%) and unique amino acid composition, NASA selected quinoa as the best food crop for its Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS). Recommendations don’t come higher than that. On page 8 of NASA’s study there is a comparative table of 12 essential amino acids found in quinoa, wheat, and soybean as wel as how each food grain shapes up to FAO’s standard minimum amino acid profile for human nutrition, in respect of each of those essential amino acids. You will see that quinoa outperforms the other two food grains in almost everyone of them.
“It is usually cooked like rice and has a very mild taste with a texture similar to cooked barley. In addition, quinoa can be eaten like a hot breakfas cereal, as a side dish in a dinner meal or put in soups salads, pilafs and desserts. With the increasing availability of quinoa, many unique cooking methods are being developed multiplying the ways this food can be prepared. With all these benefits quinoa may allow greater versatilitiy in meeting the nutritional need of humans on long-term space missions.” (Excerpt from the NASA document).
A quinoa classification system devised by the author of one of the studies cited by NASA, which is summarized in another cited study, describes four distinct quinoa group types: valley quinoa, altiplano quinoa, salt flat quinoa, and sea level quinoa. Valley quinoa grows at an altitude of 2,100-4,000 meters, is 2.5 meters in height, and matures in 5-7 months. Altiplano quinoa grows at altitudes greater than 3,600 meters, is 1.0-1.8 meters in height, and matures in 4-5 months. Salt flat quinoa grows in salt-deposit areas between 3,000-3,600 meters elevation, and grows taller and matures slower than the altiplano group. Sea level quinoa grows at low altitudes, is 1.0-1.8 meters in height, and matures more slowly than the altipiano group.
The NASA document, which details and/or summarizes the results of quinoa research carried out by a number of American universities, ends with the following paragraph:
“Quinoa has desirable food qualities for CELSS application–high protein and desirable amino acid composition. In addition, the ease with which it can be prepared and combined with other crops makes quinoa an ideal candidate crop for CELSS.” I, myself, concluded some time ago that those very qualities also make quinoa an ideal crop for nutritionally “challenged” populations not only in Latin America and the Caribbean but also in other regions of the South.
Here are two studies on sea-level quinoa:
(1) Determination of seed number in sea level quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) cultivars, (H.D. Bertero and R. A. Ruiz, European Journal of Agronomy, April 2008).
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T67-4PKP4JP-1&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1335906033&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=78b2f7a9dc763cd21997509752e1b0f7
(2) Reproductive partitioning in sea level quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) cultivars
(H.D. Bertero and R. A. Ruiz, Field Crops Research, April 2010)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6M-50156TX-1&_user=10&_origUdi=B6T67-4PKP4JP-1&_fmt=high&_coverDate=05%2F06%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_orig=article&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=997e9283bb33a487c8f9cad73c102e03
Noel Vietmeyer of the US National Academy of Scienes (whom I cited in my Critique) recently (February 2008) published an article entitled Underexploited Tropical Plants with Promising Economic Value: The Last 30 Years. Quinoa and amaranth are two of those “unexploited tropical plants.” (http://www.tfljournal.org/article.php/20070821145316291)
Here is a PDF version of th same artticle: (http://www.tfljournal.org/images/articles/20070821145316291_3.pdf). Th phrase “The last 30 years” is a reference to the original National Academy of Scienes study on Underexploited Tropical Plants, published in 1975..
You asked for studies of useful food crops. The following document cites no studies but it provides detailed nutritional information on Amaranth, quinoa, rice and other food grains:
(http://www.aaoobfoods.com/graininfo.htm). As for scientific studies, you will get your fill at this weblink:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleListURL&_method=list&_ArticleListID=1335910022&_sort=v&_st=17&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=6d9828e2a3c8ad549a59009870fae5de
That web link contains a list of no less than one hundred (yes, 100) accessible scientific studies of a broad range of food crops, including quinoa (at least 50 studies), rice, sorghum, soybean, chickpea, cowpea, pigeon pea, peanuts, rapeseed, mango, avocado, sugar cane, and common beans.. You are provided with a (free) preview of each study and the possibility of buying the complete study. Next to each of those 100 studies is a further link directing you to related studies. I clicked on the related studies link for just one of the 50 or more quinoa studies and I found myself with a list of 54 further studies! You have enough material there to keep you fully occupied for the next decade or two, or perhaps even three. Have lots of fun!
Amaranth
The following paper, AMARANTH: Composition, Properties, and Applications of a Rediscovered Food Crop, by Rita A. Teutonico and Dietrich Knorr, cites a long list of relevant academic studies on amaranth: (http://eap.mcgill.ca/CPAT_1.htm)
The Rodale Research Center (which I cited in my Critique) has compiled what the Humanity Development Library for sustainable development and basic human needs describes as “an excellent bibliography of amaranth literature”, which is accessible at this weblink:
http://www.nzdl.org/gsdlmod?e=d-00000-00—off-0hdl–00-0—-0-10-0—0—0direct-10—4——-0-1l–11-en-50—20-about—00-0-1-00-0-0-11-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=hdl&cl=CL1.1&d=HASH0914c23a664d6d95e7b2e5.9.1
In addition, you will find numerous studies of amaranth on the internet. I googled “amaranth cultivation and came up with more than ten web pages (I have not checked how many more pages) of relevant articles and studies: (http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=+amaranth+cultivation&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2000&as_ylo=&as_vis=1)
Moringa oleifera
Re your question concerning “conclusions about Moringa leaves as food from population studies or actual use”, the following study should be useful, Nutritional Quality of Edible Parts of Moringa oleifera (Food and Analytical Methods Review (September 2009): http://www.springerlink.com/content/y263878138628613/
An abstract of the paper is provided and, no doubt, you should be able to buy the full study online, if you so wish. Furthermore, you will find a long list of academic studies of the plant’s many beneficial qualities – nutritional, therapeutic, and other benefits – in this document, Moringa oleifera: A Review of the Medical Evidence for Its Nutritional, Therapeutic, and Prophylactic Properties. Part 1 http://www.moringainacan.com/files/Tree_of_Life.pdf
I also did the same google search for moringa as for amaranth, and came up with an equivalent number of webpages containing relevant articles and studies: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=leaves+of+Moringa+Oleifera+for+nutrition&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2000&as_ylo=&as_vis=1
Re your request for “other demonstrated strategies for optimal nutrition at low Cost”, FAO has emphasized the importance of indigenous foods in combating malnutrition, health and poverty. The following document contains a long list of relevant scientific studies on indigenous foods, which is accessible at the link below: International Conference on Indigenous Vegetables and Legumes. Prospectus for Fighting Poverty, Hunger and Malnutrition (ISHS Acta Horticultura 752): http://www.actahort.org/books/752/index.htm
All the documents on the list can be downloaded, either by becoming a member of ISHS via its on line membership service or by buying the necessary credits to do so.
Other Relevant FAO Studies
Suraiya Ismail et al, Community-based food andӬnutrition programmes: What makes them successfulӬӬ РA review and analysis of experienceӬ
http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5030e/y5030e00.htm
H.V. KUHNLEIN, Micronutrient nutrition and traditional food systems of indigenous peoples
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/005/y8346m/y8346m04.pdf
Food Composition Tables for international use: FAO Nutritional Studies No. 3
http://www.fao.org/infoods/tables_int_en.stm
FAO nutritional studies on amaranth
http://www.fao.org/corp/google_result/en/?cx=018170620143701104933%3Aqq82jsfba7w&q=studies+of+amaranth&x=7&y=8&cof=FORID%3A9&siteurl=www.fao.org%252F
FAO Moringa oleifera studies
http://www.fao.org/corp/google_result/en/?cx=018170620143701104933%3Aqq82jsfba7w&q=studies+of+moringa&x=10&y=9&cof=FORID%3A9&siteurl=www.fao.org%252F
FAO quinoa studies
http://www.fao.org/corp/google_result/en/?cx=018170620143701104933%3Aqq82jsfba7w&q=studies+of+moringa&x=10&y=9&cof=FORID%3A9&siteurl=www.fao.org%252F
I am afraid that that is all the info I can provide you, John, in response to your questions.
Mervyn
Wow, Mervyn,
That’s an amazing response!
Very informative Mervyn, at our arn (agro-forestry regional nurseries) of Haiti foundation we have been promoting the Moringa tree, with a buy-back seed program. Our Arcahaie nursery has the capacity of producing 1M trees annually and presently we have contracts with UDAID and other ngo’s for Moringa, as well as, various fruit tree demands. Of particular interest within your article are the complimentary grains that have not been typically grown in Haiti and which could be introduced within Morinag plantations for additional revenue and improve the soil qualities as well. We’ll look into this…….thanks!