A New Philosophy of Nutrition Education

We  believe it is time to articulate a new philosophy of nutrition education, one that reflects the urgency and critical need to inform our children about the impact of their food choices on their personal health, the health of our society, and the future of our planet.

 An argument in favor of a new era for nutrition education is also supported by a diverse international group of scholars and experts in food and nutrition working on a project entitled "New Nutrition Science."

This group unanimously agreed that now is the time to add social and environmental dimensions to the definition and practice of nutrition science, while preserving all that is basic and vital in the biological dimension of the classic nutritional sciences.

• Nutritional knowledge, including but not limited to, the benefits of healthy eating, essential nutrients, nutritional deficiencies, principles of healthy weight management, the use and misuse of dietary supplements, and safe food preparation, handling, and storage.

• Nutrition-related skills, including, but not limited to, planning a healthy meal, understanding and using food labels, and critically evaluating nutrition information, misinformation, and commercial food advertising.

• How to assess their own personal eating habits, set goals for improvement, and achieve those goals by using the Food Guide Pyramid, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Nutrition Fact Labels, and the Physical Activity Pyramid.

In the twentieth century, food production was transformed by heavy farm machinery and industrial chemistry, and now perhaps also will be by biotechnology. Food processing, including refrigeration, has enabled the supply of a wide range of foods across seasons and continents. Food manufacturing, retailing, and distribution are now increasingly concentrated in fewer hands. Traditional cuisines are being replaced by new eating patterns framed by new technologies, ways of living, and economic structures.

Mukunuwenna

Alternanthera sessilis, to the world known as sessile joyweed, dwarf copper leaf is native to Brazil and a common plant in many tropic and subtropical regions throughout the world.

This perennial plant prefers wet conditions but occurs in both wetlands and uplands and can grow under a variety of soil conditions. The plant is an erect, more or less branched, glabrous, succulent herb that grows up to 1 m tall.

This plant has some beneficial characteristics. Mukunuwenna is one of our staple food. It is considered a leafy vegetable although it looks more like a herb (such as parsley) than well known leafy vegetables (such as spinach or cabbage).

Commonly called "Mukunuwenna" it is the most widely produced and consumed leafy vegetable in Sri Lanka - the most popular of nine leafy vegetables cultivated and sold on a commercial scale in Sri Lanka. It is easy and inexpensive to cultivate, damage during transport is minimal and once cultivated it can be harvested on a monthly basis for about two years. Sri Lankans believe that this vegetable contains high levels of vitamins, protein and fibre and consume the plant several times per week. The plants are shredded finely and stir fried with grated coconut and spices, to be eaten with rice.

A wild plant that looks much like the edible local Mukunuwenna has been found growing wild on farms and sold in the market.

The plant, popularly known as “Southern American Alligator Weed”, has been detected growing on land dedicated to Mukunuwenna cultivation. Cause for concern is the fact that the plant is believed to be harmful to animals and possibly humans.

Dambala (Winged Beans)

§  Goa bean

§  Four Angled Beans

§  Goa bean

§  Four Angled Bean

§  දඹල -Dambala (Sinhala)

§  Kacang botol (Malay)

§  Kecipir (Indonesian)

§  Jaat (Sundanese)

§  Sigarillas (Tagalog)

§  sirahu avarai (Tamil)

§  Chathura Payar (Malayalam)

§  ถ้วพู Tua phoo (Thai)

§  đậu rồng (literally: dragon bean) (Vietnamese)

Dambala also known as the Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), Goa bean, Asparagus Pea and as shown above, is a tropical legume plant native to Papua New Guinea. It grows abundantly in hot, humid equatorial countries, from the Sri Lanka, Philippines and Indonesia to India, Burma and Thailand. It does well in humid tropics with high rainfall.

Dambala or Winged bean flowers in our own home garden.

The winged bean plant grows as a vine with climbing stems and leaves, 3-4 m in height. It is an herbaceous perennial, but can be grown as an annual. It is generally taller and notably larger than the Common bean. The bean pod is typically 15-22 cm (6-9 in) long and has four wings with frilly edges running lengthwise. The skin is waxy and the flesh partially translucent in the young pods. When the pod is fully ripe, it turns an ash-brown color and splits open to release the seeds. The large flower is a pale blue. The beans themselves are similar to soybeans in both use and nutritional content (being 29.8% to 39% protein). Yet, there are different views on how these nutrients could absorb in the human digestive system.

However, the plant is one of the best nitrogen fixers with nodulation accomplished by the soil bacterium Rhizobium. Because of its ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, the plant requires very little or no fertilizers.

Being a tropical plant, it is sensitive to frost. It will not flower if day length is less than 12 hours. The seeds have a hard coat and it helps to soak them before planting to hasten germination. The plant grows very quickly, reaching a length of four meters in a few weeks.

USES

This bean has been called the "one species supermarket" because practically all of the plant is edible. The beans are used as a vegetable, but the other parts (leaves, flowers, and tuberous roots) are also edible. The tender pods, which are the most widely eaten part of the plant (and best eaten when under 1" in length), can be harvested within two to three months of planting. The flowers are often used to color rice and pastries. The flavor of the beans has a similarity to asparagus. Dambala / Winged beans in our own home garden. It you planned to grow your own vegetable, this could be the first to select as it grows well.

The young leaves can be picked and prepared as a leaf vegetable, similar to spinach. The roots can be used as a root vegetable, similar to the potato, and have a nutty flavor; they are also much more rich in protein than potatoes. The dried seeds can be useful as a flour and also to make a coffee-like drink.

Each of these parts of the winged bean provide a source of

• Vitamin A,
• Vitamin C, calcium,
• Iron and other vitamins.
• The seeds contain 35% of protein and
• 18% of oil.

Nutritional Value

Nutritious winged beans offer an abundance of essential nutrients, including protein, complex carbohydrates, the B vitamins, calcium, iron and fiber. Low in sodium, one-half cup contains about 126 calories.

Eating five daily servings of fruits and vegetables lowers the chances of cancer. A recent study found that eating nine or ten daily servings of fruits and vegetables, combined with three servings of low-fat dairy products, were effective in lowering blood pressure.

About Snake Gourd

Trichosanthes cucumerina is a tropical or subtropical vine, raised for its strikingly long fruit, used as a vegetable, medicine, and, a lesser known use, crafting didgeridoos.

Common names include 

·        snake gourd (var. anguina), 

·        serpent gourd, chichinga, and padwal.

·        It is known as chichinga or chichinge in Bengali, 

·        Purla in Sambalpuri language, potlakaaya (పొట్లకాయ) inTelugu, 

·        Pathola(පතෝල) in Sinhala, 

·        Pudalankaai (புடலங்காய்)in Tamil, 

·        Dhunduli in Assamese, paduvalakaayi in Kannada andpadavalanga (പടവലങ്ങ) in Malayalam.

The narrow, soft-skinned fruit can reach 150 cm long. Its soft, blunt, somewhat mucilaginous flesh is similar to that of the luffa. It is most popular in the cuisine of South Asia and Southeast Asia. The shoots,  tendrils  and leaves are also eaten as greens.

A complete understanding of medicinal plants involves a  number of factors like botany, chemistry, genetics, quality control and pharmacology. In addition there is a large wealth of knowledge in the medicinal and other properties of plants from generation to generation by the tribal societies

Tricosanthes cucumerina is a well known plant .the fruit of which is mainly consumed as a vegetable. It is an annual climber belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae. It is commonly called as snake gourd, viper gourd, snake tomato or long tomato. The fruit is usually consumed as a vegetable due to its good nutritional value. The plant is richly constituted with a series of chemical constituents like flavonoids, carotenoids, phenolic acids which makes the plant pharmacologically and therapeutically active. It has a prominent place in alternative systems of medicine like Ayurveda and Siddha due to its various  pharmacological activities like antidiabetic,  hepatoprotective, cytotoxic, anti inflammatory, larvicidal effects.

NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF SNAKE GOURD

Item	Energy (KCal)	Protein (g)	Carbohydrate (g)	Fat (g)	Calcium (mg)	Iron (mg)
Snake gourd	18	0.5	3.3	0.3	26	1.51

 

 

Snake Gourd

§   Natural Antibiotic,  

§   Expectorant and

§   Laxative

§   Enhances the processing of nutrition in the body

§   Restoring normal function of the system

§   Helps stimulate the production of  body fluids

§   High in fiber that Relieves constipation

Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe: 6
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories		86.2
Total Fat		3.9 g
	Saturated Fat	0.5 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	1.5 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	1.6 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		33.0 mg
Potassium		359.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate		12.5 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.6 g
	Sugars	0.5 g
Protein		2.0 g

Vitamin A	9.8 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	11.3 %
Vitamin C	30.5 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	1.1 %
Calcium	5.1 %
Copper	4.4 %
Folate	5.6 %
Iron	5.7 %
Magnesium	6.7 %
Manganese	12.5 %
Niacin	3.8 %
Pantothenic Acid	3.0 %
Phosphorus	5.0 %
Riboflavin	2.7 %
Selenium	3.1 %
Thiamin	5.2 %
Zinc	7.2 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Origin and distribution

The genus Trichosanthes is native to Southern and Eastern Asia, Australia and Islands of the western Pacific. Trichosanthes cucumerina is found wild throughout these areas. It was probably domesticated in ancient times in India.

It is grown as a minor vegetable in many countries of tropical Asia. It is locally grown as a vegetable in home gardens in Africa. Commercial growers around big cities in East Africa occasionally grow cultivars of snake gourd imported from India for people of Indian origin. It is also reported from India through Malaya to tropical Australia.

Trichosanthes cucumerina is a newly introduced crop of increasing importance in several parts of Africa, including Ghana and Nigeria. The genus  Trichosanthes comprises about 100 species, of which a few have been domesticated in Asia, snake gourd being the most important. Two varieties are distinguished within  Trichosanthes cucumerina. They are the wild var. cucumerina occurring

from India, Sri Lanka and China, through South-East Asia, to northern Australia, and the cultivated var. anguina (L.). Only traditional landraces of  Trichosanthes cucumerina are used in West and Central Africa, whereas improved cultivars from India are grown in East Africa. It is distributed in temperate Asian regions like china, tropical regions of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan Sri Lanka, Myanmar; Vietnam, Indonesia; Malaysia; Philippines, in Australia it is found in Northern Territory, Queens land

and in Western Australia.

Tribal uses

Tricosanthes cucumerina is used in the treatment of head ache, alopecia, fever, abdominal tumors,  bilious,  boils, acute colic, diarrohea, haematuria and skin allergy.  T.curcumineria is used as an abortifacient, vermifuge, stomachic, refrigerant, purgative, malaria, laxative, hydragogue, hemagglutinant, emetic, cathartic, bronchitis and anthelmintic

Root: Two ounces of root juice has a drastic purgative action. Roots are used for expelling worms. In China roots used for diabetes, skin swellings like boils and furuncles. Fresh root has anti-convulsant activity. Bulbous part of the root is used as a hydragogue and cathartic.  Root is abortifacient, alexiteric, anthelmintic, anti-septic, astringent, diuretic and emetic. Leaves: Leaf juice is rubbed over the whole body in remittent fevers. Dried leaf has anti-spasmodic property. An infusion of tender shoots and dried capsules is aperient, and the expressed juice of the leaves is emetic. The leaves and stems are used for bilious disorders and skin diseases and as an emmenagogue. Leaf is alexiteric,

astringent, diuretic and emetic. 

Fruits: The fruit is considered to be anthelmintic. The dried capsules are given in infusion or in decoction with sugar to assist digestion the fruit a very violent purgative and an efficient emetic. Seeds: The seed is said to be cooling. The dried seeds are used for its anthelmintic and anti-diarrhoeal properties. Seeds have anti-bacterial, anti-spasmodic, antiperiodic and insecticidal properties. It is used as  abortifacient, acrid, aphrodisiac, astringent, bitter, febrifuge, purgative, toxic, trichogenous

Established scientific uses Anti-inflammatory Kolte RM, et al in 1997 with hot aqueous extract of root

tubers of  Trichosanthes cucumerina have investigated against carrageenin induced mouse's hind paw oedema and it exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity Cytotoxic activity Kongtun S  et al in 1999 with  the root extract of Trichosanthes cucumerina  L. and the fruit juice tested

cytotoxicity against four human breast cancer cell lines and lung cancer cell lines and one colon cancer cell line.

The root extract inhibited more strongly than the fruit juice

.Hypoglycaemic activity

Kar.A  et al in 2003 with crude ethanolic extract of Tricosanthes cucumerina showed significant blood

glucose lowering activity in alloxan diabetic albino rats Larvicidal efficacy  Rahuman.A.A  et al in 2008 using the acetone extract of leaves of tricosanthes cucumerina showed moderate larvicidal effects

Anti-diabetic activity

M Arawwawala,  et al in 2009 using hot water extract of aerial parts of  Trichosanthes cucurmerina has noted to improve glucose tolerance and tissue glycogen in non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus induced rats. Study showed the drug possess antidiabetic activity with improvement in oral glucose tolerance and glucose uptake in peripheral tissues Hepatoprotective activity Sathesh Kumar.S, et al in 2009 found that the methanolic  extract of the whole plant of tricosanthes cucumerina showed good hepatoprotective activity against carbon tetrachloride induced heapatotoxicity

Anti-fertility activity

Devendra N. Kage,  et al in 2009  showed the antiovulatory activity of ethanol extract of whole plant of

Trichosanthes cucumerina L. var.  cucumerina in female albino rats

 Gastroprotective activity

Arawwawala LD  et al in 2009 with hot water extract of Trichosanthes cucumerina, showed a significant protection against ethanol or indomethacin induced gastric damage increasing the protective mucus layer, decreasing the acidity of the gastric juice and antihistamine activity.

Dose dependent gastroprotective effects were observed in the alcohol model in terms of the length and number of gastric lesions mediated by alcohol in wistar stain rats.

Our  thanks to  International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review and Research . Available online at www.globalresearchonline.net