Patel Seema
Bioinformatics and Medical Informatics Research Center, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA.
3 Biotech. 2016 Jun;6(1):104. doi: 10.1007/s13205-016-0418-6. Epub 2016 Apr 18.
Food insecurity is a major issue in current scenario where a large section of mankind is at risk of insufficient diet. As food productivity has its limits, the prospecting of unutilized or underutilized flora as food candidates is collectively recognized as a sustainable option. In the past decade, a number of obscure plants have been identified to be rich in dietary components and deemed fit for integration into the food platter. This review discusses a candidate Salicornia, belonging to family Amaranthaceae. This halophyte has a broad geographical distribution, and phytochemical profiling has indicated its food relevance. An array of functional nutrients as fibers, polyphenols, and flavonoids have been detected in Salicornia. Though high salt, oxalate and saponin content in the plants are anti-nutrients, they can be removed to justify usage of Salicornia as a 'sea vegetable'. Apart from culinary relevance, medicinal attributes like immunomodulatory, lipid-lowering, antiproliferative, osteoprotective, and hypoglycemic render this lesser-known marsh plant significant for phytochemical studies. This appraisal is expected to be useful towards further research and popularization of this extremophile halophyte.
在当前情况下，粮食不安全是一个重大问题，很大一部分人面临饮食不足的风险。由于粮食生产力有其局限性，将未利用或未充分利用的植物作为潜在食物来源进行勘探被公认为是一种可持续的选择。在过去十年中，已确定一些鲜为人知的植物富含膳食成分，并被认为适合纳入食物拼盘。本综述讨论了一种属于苋科的盐角草属候选植物。这种盐生植物具有广泛的地理分布，植物化学分析表明了其与食物的相关性。在盐角草中已检测到一系列功能性营养成分，如纤维、多酚和黄酮类化合物。尽管植物中高含量的盐、草酸盐和皂苷是抗营养物质，但可以去除这些物质，从而证明盐角草作为一种“海菜”的用途。除了烹饪相关性外，盐角草的免疫调节、降血脂、抗增殖、骨保护和降血糖等药用特性使其成为植物化学研究中一种重要的鲜为人知的沼泽植物。预计这一评估将有助于对这种极端嗜盐盐生植物的进一步研究和推广。
