Carotenoid content of pandanus fruit cultivars and other foods of the Republic of Kiribati

Abstract

Background: Kiribati, a remote atoll island country of the Pacific, has serious problems of vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Thus, it is important to identify locally grown acceptable foods that might be promoted to alleviate this problem. Pandanus fruit (Pandanus tectorius) is a well-liked indigenous Kiribati food with many cultivars that have orange/yellow flesh, indicative of carotenoid content. Few have been previously analysed. Aim: This study was conducted to identify cultivars of pandanus and other foods that could be promoted to alleviate VAD in Kiribati. Method: Ethnography was used to select foods and assess acceptability factors. Pandanus and other foods were analysed for b-and a-carotene, b-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, lycopene and total carotenoids using high-performance liquid chromatography. Results: Of the nine pandanus cultivars investigated there was a great range of provitamin A carotenoid levels (from 62 to 19 086 mg b-carotene/100 g), generally with higher levels in those more deeply coloured. Seven pandanus cultivars, one giant swamp taro (Cyrtosperma chamissonis) cultivar and native fig (Ficus tinctoria) had significant provitamin A carotenoid content, meeting all or half of estimated daily vitamin A requirements within normal consumption patterns. Analyses in different laboratories confirmed high carotenoid levels in pandanus but showed that there are still questions as to how high the levels might be, owing to variation arising from different handling/preparation/analytical techniques. Conclusions: These carotenoid-rich acceptable foods should be promoted for alleviating VAD in Kiribati and possibly other Pacific contexts where these foods are important. Further research in the Pacific is needed to identify additional indigenous foods with potential health benefits.

Carotenoid and mineral content of Micronesian giant swamp taro (Cyrtosperma) cultivars

“…This fan was developed for objectively judging egg yolk color (Vuilleumier, 1969), but was found useful for standardizing assessment of edible flesh coloration of other plant foods with potential for carotenoid-rich cultivars, including banana and pandanus (Englberger et al, 2006a, b).…”

“…Prior papers describe the details for the carotenoid analyses by the Swiss, Fijian, and Australian laboratories (Englberger et al, 2003a(Englberger et al, , b, 2006a. For the Swiss laboratory, b-cryptoxanthin and lycopene were analyzed with the same reversed phase HPLC system that was used for the determination of a-and b-carotene.…”

“…For the Australian laboratory's carotenoid analyses, the extraction methodology used saponification, as reported by Englberger et al (2006a). The separation, identification and quantification of the major carotenoid constituents were determined by normal-phase HPLC and are described by Khachik et al (1986).…”

Carotenoid and vitamin content of Micronesian atoll foods: Pandanus (Pandanus tectorius) and garlic pear (Crataeva speciosa) fruit

“…Most pandanus cultivars provide edible seasonal fruits. On Micronesia atolls, in particular those of the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and FSM, there are many pandanus cultivars used for food (Damas, 1994;Englberger et al, 2003aEnglberger et al, ,b, 2006a. The unique composite edible fruits ( Fig.…”

“…The edible part of the pandanus key has a distinct yellow to orange coloration, varying in pattern and intensity from cultivar to cultivar. Previous work identified a number of carotenoid-rich pandanus cultivars from the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, and Kosrae (Englberger et al, 2003a(Englberger et al, , 2006a. However, no Pohnpei atoll pandanus cultivars were previously assessed for carotenoid content.…”