Value of traditional foods in meeting macro- and micronutrient needs: the wild plant connection

The importance of edible wild plants may be traced to antiquity but systema tic studies are recent. Anthropologists, botanists, ecologists, food scient ists, geographers, nutritionists, physicians and sociologists have investig ated cultural aspects and nutrient composition of edible species. Important contributions to the diet from edible wild plants are well documented and numerous studies reveal roles played by 'lesser-known species when meeting macro- and micronutrient needs of groups at risk, whether infants and child ren, pregnant and/or lactating women, or the elderly. The literature is vas t and scattered but information on the macro- and micronutrient content of wild plants and their importance to the human diet appear in five kinds of publications: cultural works by social scientists, descriptions and invento ries by botanists, dietary assessment studies by nutritionists, interventio n programmes managed by epidemiologists and physicians, and composition dat a generally conducted by food scientists and chemists. Many macro- and micr onutrient-dense wild species deserve greater attention but lack of adequate nutrient databases, whether by region or nation, limit educational efforts to improve diets in many Third World areas. Limited and uneven composition al data generally reflect factors of cost and personal interest in key nutr ients. Whilst edible wild plants are regularly deprecated by policy makers and considered to be the 'weeds of agriculture', it would be tragic if this led to loss of ability to identify and consume these important available s pecies.