Nutritional and Functional Properties of Wild Food-Medicine Plants From the Coastal Region of South China

Abstract

Food-medicine plants play an important role in providing nutrition and treating chronic diseases, especially in many minority communities and developing regions. The coastal region of South China has abundant resources of medicinal plants. A long history of cross-cultural medicinal practices among different minority groups has facilitated the development of a remarkable dietary culture by using food-medicine plants. However, integrative ethnobotanical research on both nutritional and functional properties of the food-medicine plants in this region is still limited. In this study, 27 commonly used wild food-medicine plants were recorded and analyzed from the coastal region of South China. Most of them are good sources for calcium (47.83-1099.89 mg/100 g fresh weight), dietary fiber (3.00-31.87 mg/100 g fresh weight), iron (1.17-24.73 mg/100 g fresh weight), and vitamin C (0.44-68.32 mg/100 g fresh weight). Solanum americanum has the highest average nutritive value and is also considered to be good sources for proteins (7.90 g/100 g fresh weight). Medicinal properties of the studied species can be classified into 8 categories: treatment of the damp-heat syndrome, digestive diseases, urologic diseases, arthropathy, respiratory diseases, gynecological diseases, snake or insect bites, and uses as a tonic. Treating the damp-heat syndrome or expelling warm pathogenic factors is the most commonly used ethnomedicinal practice in the study area. The present study highlights that the local ethnomedicinal practices are deeply influenced by local natural conditions and customs. Food-medicine plants with superior key nutrients have been used regularly in the diet as medicinal food to alleviate common endemic diseases.