Abstract
Background: Extensive surveys of several population settlements in different parts of India—covering plains, mountains, valleys, river banks and deeper areas of forests at different altitudes—between 1968 and 2016 demonstrated that the basic vital need of hunger is being fulfilled since antiquity by plants in the wild. Methods: Based on collections, consultations with local population personnel and literature searches, this paper presents many plants that are commonly used as food and focuses on their products, which are rich in alkaloids, polysaccharides, steroids, terpenoids, flavonoids, aminoacids, fatty acids and antibiotics etc. These complex organic compounds are suitable for the production of drugs for many ailments/diseases, including the prevention of cancers. Results: There are more than 100 families including several hundred plant taxa from various plant groups like angiosperms, bryophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms and even fleshy fungi, which have offered essential food items to ever-growing human populations since antiquity. Phytochemicals functioning as antioxidants are exceedingly beneficial to the human body but excess consumption of these compounds, adding higher levels of antioxidants, may even be responsible for chronic diseases including aging, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, etc. These medicines can obviously be taken in small and prescribed quantities but can never be consumed as “food items.”
Highlights
Ingestion of food is an inherently basic instinct of all life forms; each one, small or big, needs water and food to survive
Within the past few decades we have discovered that these plants yield an appreciable quality and quantity of alkaloids, polysaccharides, steroids, terpenoids, flavonoids, aminoacids, fatty acids and antibiotics, which are suitable for the production of drugs for many ailments/diseases including the prevention of cancers [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]
In experiments screening for the total polyphenol content of several ferns, which included a few edible ferns along with Dicranopteris pedata, Athyrium niponicum and Dryopteris nipponensis, more than 13% of total polyphenols were obtained from the dried materials of both fronds and rhizomes
Summary
Ingestion of food is an inherently basic instinct of all life forms; each one, small or big, needs water and food to survive. Our list includes those edible plants routinely used as food and that these are rich in active antioxidant systems for self-protection against biotic and abiotic stress conditions. This small very nutritious fruit is the basic food for most of the tribes in Central India for centuries. Fibre, carbohydrates, calcium, and contain high amounts of polyphenols, an antioxidant compound It is sold as health food, and due to its lack of gluten, it can be included in the diets of people who cannot tolerate wheat. Lysine; higher protein and fibers content with vitamin D; a substance lentinan (a beta glucan); inhibits tumour ontogeny; rich in phosphorous and potassium; too lees caloric value makes mushrooms even more favoured dish in modern food items.
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