Nutritional Status, Activity Pattern, and Dietary Intake among the Baka Hunter-gatherers in the Village Camps in Cameroon

The nutritional status of 75 male and 73female pygmy hunter-gatheres were surveyed as well as the daily physical activity, energy and intake of major nutrients, and total energy expenditure were examined for two married couples of the Baka hunter-gatherers in Cameroon. The average stature was intermediate relative to other Pygmy hunter-gatherers, and the subjects were generally well nourished. Despite the limited sample size and survey duration, the results indicated that the energy intake and energy expenditure of Cameroonian Baka hunter-gatherers were relatively low, which may enable them to adapt to low food availability in the village camps during the rainy season

Effects of specific cultivar usage and preparation methods in Japanese potato starches.

Potato starch is one of the important agricultural products in Hokkaido, the northernmost and second largest island of Japan. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of cultivars and starch preparation methods on the quality parameters of Japanese potato starch. Potato starches from four cultivars, Hokkaikogane, Eniwa, Benimaru and Norin No. 1, grown over a period of several years in Hokkaido were used. The starches produced with tap water in a local starch factory and with distilled water in a laboratory were investigated for phosphorus content, median granule size and peak viscosity and breakdown as determined with a Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA). Among the starch samples used in this study, significant differences were observed across starch quality parameters. We investigated the differences in quality parameters as an effect of individual cultivars. The starch median granule size among potato cultivars varied in the following order: Benimaru (43.1 μm) > Hokkaikogane (39.1 μm) ≈Eniwa (38.2 μm) > Norin No. 1 (33.9 μm). We found that starches of Hokkaikogane and Eniwa, both with a measurably higher phosphorus content, displayed significantly higher peak viscosity and breakdown than those of Benimaru and Norin No. 1. We also examined the effect that the preparation method has on starch quality parameters within the same potato cultivar. We found that the starch preparation method had a little or no influence on phosphorus content. Median granule size was also completely independent on the preparation method. The RVA evaluation revealed that, even within the same cultivar, starches produced in a factory showed lower peak viscosity and breakdown than those produced in a laboratory

Identification and quantitative determination of glucosinolates in Brassica napus cv. Hanakkori.

The objective of this study was to identify and quantify glucosinolates (GSLs) in Brassica napus cv. Hanakkori and its parents and to evaluate its potential bitter taste. ‘Hanakkori’ materials were cultivated with commercial chemical nutrients (20 kg/ha, N-P-K: 16-10-10) at the field. GSLs were isolated by means of extraction with 70%(v/v) boiling methanol (MeOH) followed by desulfation from those plants by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and identified by electronic spray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis. In ‘Hanakkori’, 11 GSLs were identified as progoitrin, glucoraphanin, glucoalyssin, gluconapoleiferin, gluconapin, 1-methylpropyl, glucobrassicanapin, glucobrassicin, 4- methoxyglucobrassicin, gluconasturtiin, and neoglucobrassicin. The total GSL contents were 109 and 36.1 mmol/kg dry weights (d.w.) for the seeds and edible parts, respectively. The major GSLs (>5 mmol/kg d.w.) in the seeds were progoitrin (78.8), gluconapin (10.7), and glucobrassicanapin (7.81), whereas they in the edible parts were progoitrin (16.1) and glucobrassicanapin (8.58). In addition, the bitter taste in the edible parts was presumably related with the presence of progoitrin (>45% to the total GSL)

Factors affecting the digestibility of raw and gelatinized potato starches.

The enzymatic digestibilities of raw and gelatinized starches in various potato starches, as well as sweet potato, cassava, and yam starches, were estimated, along with other starch properties, such as the phosphorus content, median granule size, and rapid visco analyzer (RVA) pasting properties. Furthermore, correlation coefficients were calculated between the hydrolysis rates (HR) by amylase and other starch quality parameters. A larger granule size was closely associated with a lower HR in raw starch, while the HR in gelatinized starch did not correlate with the median granule size. An increase in phosphorus content resulted in a definitely lower HR in raw starch and tended to decrease the HR in gelatinized starch for the composite of potato and other starches. In contrast, no correlation coefficients of the phosphorus content with the HRs in raw and gelatinized starches were observed within potato starches. Starches with higher peak viscosity and breakdown showed a lower HR in raw starch, while few or no effects of these RVA parameters on the HR in gelatinized starch were observed for the composite of potato and other starches or among potato starches, respectively

Yam contributes to improvement of glucose metabolism in rats.

To investigate whether yam improves glucose metabolism, yam-containing diets were given to Wistar rats. In a short-term experiment, fasted-rats were given 1.0 g of a control and 20% yam-containing diets. At 60 min after start of the feeding, glucose level in the yam diet group was lower or tended to be lower than that in the control diet. Insulin levels at 30 min and 60 min were significantly lower than those in the control group. In a long-term experiment, a normal diet (N) or 25% high fat diets with (Y) or without 15% yam powder (HF) were given to rats for 4 weeks. At 4 weeks, in an oral glucose tolerance test, the area under the curve (AUC) of plasma glucose level was higher in the HF group than that in the N group, whereas those in the Y groups did not differ from that in the N group. Glycosylated hemoglobin levels had similar tendency to the AUCs. Plasma leptin levels in the Y groups were significantly higher than that in the N group. In conclusion, yam may contribute to improvement of glucose metabolism. Additionally, we speculated that leptin level is possibly involved in the insulin-response to yam diets