XVI International Botanical Congess

Traditional patterns of plant ingestion as food, medicines, masticants and food additives are instructive for understanding human nutritional needs and diseases with a dietary basis. Loss of such practices has consequences for the health and nutrition of subsistence agriculturalists, pastoralists and hunter-gatherers experiencing the changes associated with modernization as well as for industrial populations. Nutrient, antioxidant and other properties of traditional plant resources that can be more optimally utilized to meet local needs can offer a rationale for the conservation of these resources. As well the elaboration of dietary supplements and other products from plant parts that can be harvested sustainably can offer economic development opportunities for local communities. These issues will be presented within the context of a program of participatory research involving pastoral communities in East Africa.