This was revealed by a study by the Okanagan Campus of the University of British Columbia which, in addition to finding the enormous benefits on people of this food, recognized its high sustainability, given that cultivation and production generate a minimal environmental impact. the name clearly has nothing to do with bread, the main food of many populations of the world. To choose the type of bread suitable for your diet, it is useful to know variants, flours, yeasts and properties.
, and has a diameter of at least ten centimeters. The rind is rough and light green in color, while the internal pulp is almost completely white and has a floury consistency. To give the name to this unusual species, are the floury consistency and also the taste of the pulp, much more similar to that of freshly baked bread or potatoes than to that of a juicy fruit.
Food base of the Caribbean populations
For centuries the bread tree has represented the most consistent part of the diet of the inhabitants of the areas where it grows in abundance but, despite its enormous diffusion in those places, no study had ever investigated its properties. "Until now, there has been a large gap in this regard and a lack of scientific insights into the health impacts of a diet primarily focused on breadfruit in both humans and animals," explains Susan Murch, UBC Okanagan researcher. .
."The fruit can be eaten raw when ripe, or cooked, roasted in the oven, fried or dried and ground into a flour and repurposed in many types of dishes," explains Ying Liu, who conducted his research with colleagues from Natural Health and Food Products Research Group of the British Columbia Institute of Technology and the Breadfruit Institute - National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii.
The researchers examined the reactions of a group of mice who were given doses of this dehydrated fruit for three weeks. Then, they compared them to those of another group that, instead, was fed traditional wheat or other grains.
A highly digestible food
The data collected during the study made it possible to establish that breadfruit proteins seem easier to digest than those of simple wheat. In mice fed this type of diet, moreover, a rate of growth and significantly higher body weight than mice fed standard-value foods.
The research team also noted that in animals who followed the bread diet, the daily water consumption was significantly higher than in those who, on the other hand, were kept on the wheat diet. And as at the end of the study period, body composition was similar between the two groups examined.
“Our data therefore showed that a diet based on breadfruit fruits is not harmful to health at all, quite the opposite. We can say with certainty that these are very functional basic foods ».
optimal.It is, in fact, a food rich in carbohydrates, gluten-free and low in fat, with good amounts of calcium, magnesium, iron, fiber, vitamins B1 and B3 and above all potassium. It seems, in fact, that it alone contains the potassium equivalent present in ten bananas.
Thanks to its low glycemic index, comparable to that of many common staple foods such as wheat, cassava and potatoes, consuming it regularly fights diabetes. In addition, it offers a great protein intake.
According to the researchers, if a person ate about 189 grams of breadfruit fruit they could satisfy up to almost 57% of the daily requirement of fiber, 34% of the protein requirement and, at the same time, ingest vitamin C, potassium, iron. calcium and phosphorus. Furthermore, its proteins have more amino acids than those of soy, while some varieties of this plant are rich in antioxidants and carotenoids.
Therefore, introducing its use in your diet can only bring benefits. Among other things, we must not forget that it represents a creative and original food alternative.
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