Use Of Plant Foods Research Articles

Still no direct evidence of postprandial hyperkalemia with plant foods.

Although St-Jules et al have presented the case for postprandial hyperkalemia with food, including plant foods, there (still) is little to no direct evidence supporting the occurrence of postprandial hyperkalemia, mostly due to a lack of studies performed exclusively using food. Food is different than salts or supplements, and it is likely that a banana behaves differently than potassium salts. A growing body of evidence supports the use of plant foods without causing hyperkalemia in patients with kidney disease. Currently, only 1 study has reported on the postprandial effects of hyperkalemia. In this study, there was a substantial reduction in the instances of postprandial hyperkalemia in participants consuming a diet that included more plant foods and more fiber. At the time of this writing, there is no evidence to support risk or safety of certain foods with regard to postprandial hyperkalemia, and additional research is warranted.

Пищевые традиции по данным мультидисциплинарных исследований: степи и лесостепи Поволжья и Южного Урала в эпоху бронзы

Introduction. As a part of paleopathological studies of people inhabiting the Volga-Ural and Southern Ural steppes and forest-steppes in the Bronze Age, it became necessary to study and generalize the available extensive data on diet of this population provided by specialists from various related fields. Indeed, the state of “health” is largely related to what and how a person eats and under what pathogenic burden he lives. Materials and methods. The paper summarizes main results of archaeological, zooarchaeological, paleobotanical, geochemical, isotope and paleopathological studies. Results. It has been almost reliably established that animal husbandry was the economic basis of the studied population with elements of hunting and gathering and the absence of crop cultivation. Zooarchaeological studies show that cattle played dominant role and were used both for meat and milk, with some territorial and temporal variations in which of these components was more important. Hunting and fishing played, apparently, a secondary role. It is obvious that the use of plant foods did take place. Researchers agree that the studied population consumed wild plants growing in the steppes and forest-steppes, such as Chenopodium, Amaranthus and a number of others. Conclusion. Studies of associated disciplines are in many ways interrelated and mutually interpretable, which allows us to create a general picture. At the same time, a number of unresolved issues remain that require further, more detailed analytical developments, including those involving paleopathological data.

Cooking in caves: Palaeolithic carbonised plant food remains from Franchthi and Shanidar

Research on Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer diet has focused on the consumption of animals. Evidence for the use of plant foods is comparatively limited but is rapidly expanding. The authors present an analysis of carbonised macro-remains of processed plants from Franchthi Cave in the Aegean Basin and Shanidar Cave in the north-west Zagros Mountains. Microscopic examination of the charred food remains reveals the use of pounded pulses as a common ingredient in cooked plant foods. The results are discussed in the context of the regional archaeobotanical literature, leading the authors to argue that plants with bitter and astringent tastes were key ingredients of Palaeolithic cuisines in South-west Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The importance of wild resources as a reflection of the resilience and changing nature of early agricultural systems in East Asia and Europe

We examine the changing importance of wild starch rich plant staples, predominantly tree nuts, in early agricultural societies in East Asia and Europe, focusing on Korea, Japan, and Britain. A comparative review highlights variations in the importance of wild plant staples compared to domesticated crops. The Korean Middle to Late Chulmun periods (c. 3,500–1,500 BC) was characterized by a high reliance on nuts alongside millet. This declines with the transition to rice agriculture, but remains significant during the Mumun period (c. 1,500–300 BC). In Japan, the arrival of rice and millets in the Yayoi Period (c. 1,000 BC−250 AD) saw continued evidence for high levels of reliance on wild resources, which declines only in the Kofun and early historical periods. In Early Neolithic Britain (c. 4,000–3,300 BC) cereal agriculture is accompanied by high evidence for wild plant foods. But during the Middle to Late Neolithic (3,300–c. 2,400/2,200 BC) cereals were abandoned on the mainland with hazelnuts becoming a prominent plant staple. Agriculture returned in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, followed by a strong decline in wild plant food use during the Middle to Late Bronze Age (1,700–700 BC). Such patterns have previously been attributed to the slow adoption of farming by indigenous peoples, with a continued reliance on wild resources. In light of evidence demonstrating that the dispersal of agriculture was largely driven by a mixture of demic-diffusion and introgression of hunter-gatherers into agricultural groups, a reinterpretation of the role of wild foods is needed. It is argued that the relative importance of wild plant staples provides an indicator of the stability and dependability of agricultural and social systems. A heavy reliance on wild foods in early agricultural societies is tied to the slow adaptation of domesticated crops to new environments, where agricultural and social landscapes are yet to be firmly established, and social systems that could mitigate for poor harvests and storage were often absent. The retained lengthy persistence of wild plant staples in East Asian subsistence systems compared to the British Isles likely reflects differences in the ecological and labor demands for rice compared to Western Asiatic cereals.

The Role of Plant Foods in the Evolution and Dispersal of Early Humans: A Perspec- tive from Across the Wallace Line

In recent years, new evidence for the early use of plant foods has challenged the stereotype of the meat-eating Paleolithic. Whilst often making up the smaller component of the diet, plant foods are key to hominin diets, carbohydrates especially providing an efficient energy resource. This paper reviews the current evidence for the role of plant foods in the evolution and dispersal of early modern humans and our closest ancestors, with a focus on new evidence for early diet from Island Southeast Asia, Australia and New Guinea. It demonstrates the importance of plant foods and their processing, to the dietary flexibility and adaptive capacity of our species.

Editan (Lasianthera africana) leaf-inclusive diets modulate some neuronal enzyme activities and antioxidant status of cyclophosphamide-treated Wistar rats.

The effect of Editan (Lasianthera africana) leaf inclusive diet (ELD) on neuronal cholinesterases (ChE), ecto-5'-nucleotidase, and endogenous antioxidant indices [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH)] in cyclophosphamide (CYP)-administered albino rats were investigated. Thirty male albino Wistar rats were dissevered appropriately (n=6). Group I-normal control rats (NC), II-untreated CYP-administered rats, III-CYP-administered rats pre-treated with donepezil (DON), group IV-CYP-administered rats fed ELD, and V-normal rats fed with ELD for 21days. Results obtained revealed that CYP-administered rats significantly (p<.05) had elevated activities of ChE, ecto-5'-nucleotidase and thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS), and concomitantly decreased in the antioxidant indices. However, pre-treatment with either DON or ELD reversed these effects, thereby eliciting a therapeutic effect which could be linked to the rich polyphenol and alkaloid constituents in the studied leaf, and could be responsible for the potential ethnopharmacological actions of the ELD in the management neurodegeneration. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Currently, the use of plant-food to control diseased conditions due to their phytochemicals has been explored, most especially, the indigenous edible vegetables from the Southwestern part of Nigeria. "Editan" leafy vegetable scientifically known as Lasianthera africana is commonly used in soups preparation and in folklore for the management of some human ailments. Editan leaf is a rich source of alkaloid and phenolic compounds, which could be used to treat and or manage neurological diseases. This study, therefore, unravels the fact that the studied leafy vegetable possesses therapeutic potentials toward the management of neurological disorders.

Can patients with oral allergy syndrome be at risk of anaphylaxis?

Oral allergy syndrome, also known as pollen-food syndrome (PFS), is a condition usually associated with adults and characterized by mild transient oropharyngeal symptoms. The purpose of this review is to determine whether systemic or anaphylactic reactions do occur and if so, who is affected and what are the triggers. An increasing number of studies demonstrate that PFS occurs all age groups, and a significant number of affected adults do experience systemic and anaphylactic reactions. The upsurge in the adoption of vegan lifestyles, increase in consumption of fruits and vegetables including smoothies and juices, and use of plant foods in nutritional or body-building supplements, could exacerbate this. Changes in pollen and pollution levels, cofactors and sensitization to other plant food allergens may also be involved. While the majority of those with PFS will continue to experience mild symptoms, all individuals should be properly advised regarding the dangers of concentrated or unusual forms of plant food allergens such as smoothies, juices, soy/nut milks and nutritional supplements. Further well characterized studies are needed to determine risk factors for severe reactions, and sensitization patterns to pollens and plant food allergens.

The first Australian plant foods at Madjedbebe, 65,000\u201353,000 years ago

There is little evidence for the role of plant foods in the dispersal of early modern humans into new habitats globally. Researchers have hypothesised that early movements of human populations through Island Southeast Asia and into Sahul were driven by the lure of high-calorie, low-handling-cost foods, and that the use of plant foods requiring processing was not common in Sahul until the Holocene. Here we present the analysis of charred plant food remains from Madjedbebe rockshelter in northern Australia, dated to between 65 kya and 53 kya. We demonstrate that Australia’s earliest known human population exploited a range of plant foods, including those requiring processing. Our finds predate existing evidence for such subsistence practices in Sahul by at least 23ky. These results suggest that dietary breadth underpinned the success of early modern human populations in this region, with the expenditure of labour on the processing of plants guaranteeing reliable access to nutrients in new environments.

Food and ritual resources in hunter-gatherer societies: Canarium nuts in southern China and beyond

Abstract

Using DRAC in complex geometries - TL dating of heated flints from Taibeh, Jordan

Abstract The archaeological site of Taibeh located south of Wadi Musa, Jordan, incorporates at least two, maybe even five, successive layers associated with the Late Ahmarian, also known as Masraqan, technocomplex. The Masraqan is elsewhere connected with the beginning of the intensive use of plant food and with permanent settlements. Taibeh could be the first site to present as much as 5 successive layers of this cultural unit. The Masraqan is relatively well constrained in time, usually dated between 18 and 25 ka BP. A series of heated flints was collected at Taibeh to be dated using TL. Two informations are required for the estimation of a TL age: the equivalent dose ( D e ) which is the dose accumulated in the flint since it had been heated, and the dose rate ( D ˙ ) to which the flint is exposed during the burial time. The D e estimation was done applying two different protocols, and both produced consistent results. The D ˙ estimation was realised using a modified version of DRAC (Durcan et al., 2015) which allows to use different radio-element concentrations for the flints and the surrounding sediment.

Bilberry and bilberry press cake as sources of dietary fibre

BackgroundDietary recommendations for Nordic countries urge the use of plant foods as a basis for healthy nutrition. Currently, the level of dietary fibre (DF) intake is not adequate. Berries are an elementary part of the recommended Nordic healthy diet and could be consumed in higher amounts.Materials and methodsFinnish bilberries and a bilberry press cake from juice processing were studied for DF content, carbohydrate composition, and non-carbohydrate fibre content, which was analysed as sulphuric acid insoluble and soluble material. The microstructure of all samples was also studied using light microscopy and toluidine blue O, calcofluor, and acid fuchsin staining.ResultsThe total DF contents of fresh and freeze-dried bilberries and the press cake were 3.0, 24.1, and 58.9%, respectively. Most of the DF was insoluble. Only about half of it was carbohydrate, the rest being mostly sulphuric acid–insoluble material, waxy cutin from skins, and resilient seeds. Bilberry seeds represented over half of the press cake fraction, and in addition to skin, they were the major DF sources. Microscopy revealed that skins in the press cake were intact and the surface of the seeds had thick-walled cells.ConclusionsBilberry press cake is thus a good source of insoluble non-carbohydrate DF, and could be used to provide DF-rich foods to contribute to versatile intake of DF.

The origin of the Gravettian

The Gravettian is an Upper Palaeolithic unit that had a pan-European range. Unlike the Aurignacian, it did not extend beyond Europe. In terms of taxonomy, in a polythetic system, the Gravettian can be placed on various levels. In terms of material culture and lithic inventories, it is closer to the concept of a “technocomplex”, while in terms of symbolic culture it corresponds to the concept of “archaeological culture”. These differences in the degree of the correlation of particular socio-cultural sub-systems have caused emphasis to be placed either on unifying elements, or on differentiating components.These different viewpoints on the Gravettian have resulted in various hypotheses of the origins of this complex. These hypotheses take into account:a) monocentric origin from Danubian centers, from which the Gravettian spread to the west giving rise to the “western European Perigordian”, and to eastern Europe where it gave rise to the Kostienkian (the Kostienki–Avdeyevo culture). This hypothesis is most frequently proposed.b) polycentric origins that assume other centers of autonomous formation of the Gravettian (e.g. eastern European and middle Mediterranean centres).c) origins related to cultural adaptations that led to convergent cultural evolution in various territories in consequence of environmental changes, notably in the younger part of MIS 3.None of these hypotheses seems to fully explain the processes of the emergence of the Gravettian. It is only a combination of these hypotheses that enables a more penetrating understanding of the process of cultural evolution in the Middle Upper Palaeolithic in Europe.Doubtless, the Gravettian is a varied unit in a number of aspects. Nevertheless, similarities do exist in respect of numerous elements of technology, morphology of lithic and bone implements, symbolic culture, behaviours related to food procurement, and the broad sphere of inter-group contacts and zones of raw material procurement. In the Gravettian, a number of elements are herbingers of the “Neolithic revolution”: the semi-settled way of life (multiseasonal settlements), intentionally designed lay-out of villages, the use of fired clay, the building of complex dwelling structures, and the use of plant foods.

Roman food refuse: urban archaeobotany in Pompeii, Regio VI, Insula 1

Although world-renowned as an archaeological site, there have been few research projects in Pompeii looking at the spatial and chronological patterning of plant food use from an archaeobotanical perspective. The recent 12 years of archaeological excavations (1995–2006) by the Anglo-American Project in Pompeii have provided a rare opportunity to investigate a whole city block (Regione VI, Insula 1). This included a blanket sampling strategy of all contexts where archaeobotanical macro-remains, both carbonised and calcium phosphate replaced material, have been recovered, the results from which are reported here. The low density scatters of recurrent taxa from the majority of contexts examined in this study suggest that they were composed of table waste and kitchen food preparation waste and represent an expected ‘background noise’ of Roman cooking and consumption. This includes the standard ‘Mediterranean package’ of olives, grapes, figs, cereals and pulses. The general lack of evidence for crop-processing within the insula suggests that this was probably carried out elsewhere, probably within the city’s hinterland. These results support the established view that Pompeii was a fully urbanised city in the 1st century b.c. There appears to be an increase in olive consumption in the 1st century a.d., which may be suggested to correlate with ‘Romanisation’ and an increase in olive growing in the region.

Hazelnut economy of early Holocene hunter–gatherers: a case study from Mesolithic Duvensee, northern Germany

Throughout the greater part of human evolution in Europe, use of plant foods is invisible and thus might have played a secondary role in nutrition. Ecological changes at the beginning of the early Holocene provoked innovations in early Mesolithic subsistence, focusing on the rich plant resources of the increasingly forested environment. High-resolution analyses of the excellently preserved and well-dated special task camps documented in detail at Duvensee, Northern Germany, offer an outstanding opportunity for case studies on Mesolithic subsistence and land use strategies. Quantification of the nut utilisation demonstrates the great importance of hazelnuts. These studies revealed very high return rates and allow for absolute assessments of the development of early Holocene economy. Stockpiling of the energy rich resource and an increased logistical capacity are innovations characterising an intensified early Mesolithic land use, which is reflected in the stable tradition of uniform seasonal settlement patterns at early Mesolithic Duvensee. The case study reveals characteristics in early Mesolithic subsistence and land use that anticipate attributes of the Neolithic economy.

Foraging in the Tennessee River Valley, 12,500 to 8,000 years ago

Plants are inarguably a significant component of the diets of foraging peoples in non-arctic environments. As such, the decisions and activities associated with the gathering and exploitation of plants are important to foragers' subsistence pursuits. Plant remains are particularly important for understanding gathering activities. In - as much as plant foods comprised a considerable portion of early foragers' diets, and the gathering and processing of these plant resources occupied a significant proportion of the population, namely women, children, and the elderly, an understanding of gathering activities and how they relate to use of the landscape is critical.Organic remains are poorly preserved in the acidic soils of the Southeast and are often limited or absent from open-air sites, but archaeological deposits protected within rockshelters provide an exception. Organic remains are consistently well preserved in their rain-protected deposits, and rockshelters are locations that groups repeatedly visited. Because of this repeated use and remarkable preservation, significant quantities of well-preserved faunal and botanical remains can be recovered from rockshelter deposits.In Foraging, Hollenbach analyzes and compares botanical remains from archaeological excavations in four rockshelters in the Middle Tennessee River Valley. The artifact assemblages of rockshelter and open-air sites are similar, so it is reasonable to assume that faunal and botanical assemblages would be similar, if open-air sites had comparable preservation of organic remains. The rich organic data recovered from rockshelters therefore may be considered representative of general subsistence and settlement strategies, and can significantly inform our views of lifeways of Late Paleoindian and Early Archaic peoples. The data produced from this analysis provides a valuable baseline of plant food use by early foragers in the region, and establishes a model of Late Paleoindian and Early Archaic lifeways in the Southeast.

Gourd and squash artifacts yield starch grains of feasting foods from preceramic Peru

In a study of residues from gourd and squash artifacts, we recovered starch grains from manioc (Manihot esculenta), potato (Solanum sp.), chili pepper (Capsicum spp.), arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea), and algarrobo (Prosopis sp.) from feasting contexts at the Buena Vista site, a central Peruvian preceramic site dating to approximately 2200 calendar years B.C. This study has implications for the study of plant food use wherever gourds or squashes are preserved, documents the earliest evidence for the consumption of algarrobo and arrowroot in Peru, and provides insights into foods consumed at feasts.

Pleistocene occupation of New Guinea's highland and subalpine environments

New Guinea's mountains provide an important case study for understanding early modern human environmental adaptability and early developments leading to agriculture. Evidence is presented showing that human colonization pre-dated 35ka (ka = thousands of uncalibrated radiocarbon years before present) and was accompanied by landscape modification using fire. Sorties into the subalpine zone may have occurred before the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM), and perhaps contributed to megafaunal extinction. Humans persisted in the intermontane valleys through the LGM and expanded rapidly into the subalpine on climatic warming, when burning and clearance may have retarded vegetation re-colonization. Plant food use dates from at least 31ka, confirming that some of New Guinea's distinctive agricultural practices date to the earliest millennia of human presence.

Hunter‐gatherer archaeology and pastoral contact: Perspectives from the northwest Northern Territory, Australia

We discuss four components of the post‐European archaeological record of the northwest Northern Territory, Australia; site locations and contents, rock art, stone tools, and evidence of plant food use. These provide insights into how Aboriginal hunter‐gatherers have negotiated their interaction with pastoral colonization, and the conditions under which either continuity or change occurred. The strongest influence on both the latter was Aboriginal people's attempt to maintain both social obligations and attachments to particular places. This was more successful than in many parts of Australia because of the limitations the wet season placed on pastoral activity. We discuss the implications of this particular contact situation for understanding longer term change in hunter‐gatherer societies.

Evidence for possible use of plant foods in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic diet from the site of Całowanie in the central part of the Polish Plain

Calowanie site, which supported hunter-gatherer populations from ca. 11 380±95 until 8270±100 B.P., is the major terminal Palaeolithic and early Mesolithic occupation complex of the North European Plain. The archaeological layers are intercalated with biogenic sediments. The remains of plants that probably served as food were recovered from terminal Palaeolithic and early Mesolithic layers. Most of the charred plant remains, apart from wood charcoal, derives from vegetative parenchyma which forms a major part of organs such as root and tuber. Two taxa have been identified on the basis of the anatomy of parenchymatous tissue, namely Sagittaria cf. sagittifolia and Polygonum sp. In addition, several charred seeds and fruits were recovered. This is the first evidence for the probable use of plant foods, other than hazel nuts or water-chestnuts, in the diet of hunter-gatherers in the North European Plain during the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic.

Use of plant foods as medicines

Use of plant foods as medicines