The use of plants and herbs as food supplements and medicinal additives is fast gaining grounds and recognition in the world especially in Africa. Sweet potato leaves (Ipomoea batatas) decoction is a folk remedy for asthma, bugbites, burns, catarrh, diarrhea, fever, nausea, stomach distress and tumours. Also this plant has haematinic effects and has been used in the treatment of anaemia and oth...

BACKGROUND White maize, which is widely used for complementary feeding and is seldom fortified at the household level, may be associated with the high prevalence of vitamin A deficiency among infants in low-income countries. OBJECTIVE The nutrient composition of complementary foods based on orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) and cream-fleshed sweet potato (CFSP), maize-soybean-groundnut (Wean...

Cigarette smoke contains around 4000 chemical substances including free radicals and carcinogens, which are xenobiotic agents in the body, affecting the reproductive system. Purple sweet potatoes contain the color pigment anthocyanin. The purple color pigment (anthocyanin) in purple sweet potatoes is a beneficial antioxidant because it can react with free radicals that can cause damage in the b...

Research into least fattening eating patterns indicates that in England 'a snack' is a term that refers to different eating habits from 'snacking' and that neither pattern of behaviour necessarily involves 'snack food'. These hypotheses were tested by randomised mailings to a convenience sample of university campus addressees with the subject heading of the message and the topic of questions in...

"Amala" is a generic term in Nigeria, used to describe a thick paste prepared by stirring flour ("elubo") from yam, cassava or unripe plantain, in hot water, to form a smooth consistency. In order to overcome its high perishability and increase the utilization of sweet potato roots, three varieties of sweet potato roots were processed into flour using two methods. The interactive effect of vari...

Low calcium intake, poor calcium absorption, excessive calcium losses, or some combination of these factors contribute to calcium deficiency diseases. Calcium insufficiency is associated with osteoporosis, hypertension and colon cancer among other diseases. For individuals who do not have access to milk and dairy products, do not tolerate them, or prefer not to consume them, plants may be alter...

In January 2005, a cyclone hit southern Madagascar, including the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, disrupting the flowering/fruiting cycle of Tamarindus indica, leaving Lemur catta without its major food resource during reproductive periods. We studied two adjacent groups of L. catta during the late gestation period, and both groups ventured outside the reserve to feed. The Red group (RG) fed dai...

The hypothesis that sweet potato genotypes containing different starch yields in their tuberous roots can affect the bacterial communities present in the rhizosphere (soil adhering to tubers) was tested in this study. Tuberous roots of field-grown sweet potato of genotypes IPB-149 (commercial genotype), IPB-052, and IPB-137 were sampled three and six months after planting and analyzed by denatu...

Ceratocystis fimbriata is a large, diverse complex of species that cause wilt-type diseases of many economically important plants. Previous studies have shown that isolates in three monophyletic lineages within the Latin American clade of C. fimbriata are host-specialized to cacao (Theobroma cacao), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and sycamore (Platanus spp.), respectively. We paired testers of ...

The effect of pretreatment methods (soaking in water, potassium metabisulphite solution, and blanching) and drying methods (sun and oven) on some quality attributes of flour from ten varieties of sweet potato roots were investigated. The quality attributes determined were chemical composition and functional properties. Data obtained were subjected to descriptive statistics, multivariate analysi...