The plant remains

https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/141176/1/Journal_of_Ethnopharmacology_2017_accepted-manuscript.pdf

The genus Lycium as food and medicine: A botanical, ethnobotanical and historical review.

Vital Statistics Rates in the United States: 1900-1940

The nightshade family Solanaceae holds exceptional economic and cultural importance. The early diversification of Solanaceae is thought to have occurred in South America during its separation from Gondwana, but the family’s sparse fossil record provides few insights. We report 52.2-million-year-old lantern fruits from terminal-Gondwanan Patagonia, featuring highly inflated, five-lobed calyces, as a newly identified species of the derived, diverse New World genus Physalis (e.g., groundcherries and tomatillos). The fossils are considerably older than corresponding molecular divergence dates and demonstrate an ancient history for the inflated calyx syndrome. The derived position of these early Eocene fossils shows that Solanaceae were well diversified long before final Gondwanan breakup.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/355/6320/71.full.pdf

Eocene lantern fruits from Gondwanan Patagonia and the early origins of Solanaceae

The Maasai of northern Tanzania, a semi-nomadic ethnic group predominantly reliant on pastoralism, face a number of challenges anticipated to have negative impacts on child health, including marginalisation, vulnerabilities to drought, substandard service provision and on-going land grabbing conflicts. Yet, stemming from a lack of appropriate national survey data, no large-scale comparative study of Maasai child health has been conducted. Savannas Forever Tanzania surveyed the health of over 3500 children from 56 villages in northern Tanzania between 2009 and 2011. The major ethnic groups sampled were the Maasai, Sukuma, Rangi, and the Meru. Using multilevel regression we compare each ethnic group on the basis of (i) measurements of child health, including anthropometric indicators of nutritional status and self-reported incidence of disease; and (ii) important proximate determinants of child health, including food insecurity, diet, breastfeeding behaviour and vaccination coverage. We then (iii) contrast households among the Maasai by the extent to which subsistence is reliant on livestock herding. Measures of both child nutritional status and disease confirm that the Maasai are substantially disadvantaged compared to neighbouring ethnic groups, Meru are relatively advantaged, and Rangi and Sukuma intermediate in most comparisons. However, Maasai children were less likely to report malaria and worm infections. Food insecurity was high throughout the study site, but particularly severe for the Maasai, and reflected in lower dietary intake of carbohydrate-rich staple foods, and fruits and vegetables. Breastfeeding was extended in the Maasai, despite higher reported consumption of cow's milk, a potential weaning food. Vaccination coverage was lowest in Maasai and Sukuma. Maasai who rely primarily on livestock herding showed signs of further disadvantage compared to Maasai relying primarily on agriculture. We discuss the potential ecological, socioeconomic, demographic and cultural factors responsible for these differences and the implications for population health research and policy.

/pdf/ethnicity-and-child-health-in-northern-tanzania-maasai-2mq3vra7us.pdf

Ethnicity and Child Health in Northern Tanzania: Maasai Pastoralists are Disadvantaged Compared to Neighbouring Ethnic Groups.

The Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology of Wild Tomatillos, Physalis longifolia Nutt., and Related Physalis Species: A Review. The wild tomatillo, Physalis longifolia Nutt., and related species have been important wild-harvested foods and medicinal plants. This paper reviews their traditional use as food and medicine; it also discusses taxonomic difficulties and provides information on recent medicinal chemistry discoveries within this and related species. Subtle morphological differences recognized by taxonomists to distinguish this species from closely related taxa can be confusing to botanists and ethnobotanists, and many of these differences are not considered to be important by indigenous people. Therefore, the food and medicinal uses reported here include information for P. longifolia, as well as uses for several related taxa found north of Mexico. The importance of wild Physalis species as food is reported by many tribes, and its long history of use is evidenced by frequent discovery in archaeological sites. These plants may have been cultivated, or “tended,” by Pueblo farmers and other tribes. The importance of this plant as medicine is made evident through its historical ethnobotanical use, information in recent literature on Physalis species pharmacology, and our Native Medicinal Plant Research Program’s recent discovery of 14 new natural products, some of which have potent anti-cancer activity.

The Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology of Wild Tomatillos, Physalis longifolia Nutt., and Related Physalis Species: A Review

We analyzed ethnobotanical data on Kansas plants to evaluate differences among families for medicinal uses by Native Americans. We compared three different statistical methods used in previous ethnobotanical studies for use in our Native Medicinal Plant Research Program, which seeks to determine which plant families are more likely to contain species with medicinal compounds. The three approaches were linear regression, binomial approach, and Bayesian analysis. All were useful for determining medicinal plant use differences among plant families, although regression analysis was most useful for our purposes. Asteraceae and Fabaceae are abundant in the open sun environments of Great Plains grasslands and contain high numbers of medicinal plants. In contrast, although grasses (Poaceae) and sedges (Cyperaceae) also are species-rich and ecologically abundant, each is underrepresented as being used by Native Americans as medicine, which can be explained at least partially by their paucity of secondary compounds.

http://nativeplants.ku.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Kindscher_etal-2013-Medicinal_Plants.pdf

A Statistical Analysis of Medicinal Plants: A Case Study of Plant Families in Kansas and the Great Plains

Adoption of farming along the rivers of Turkana District in Kenya has lead to the settling of traditionally nomadic Ngisonyoka Turkana pastoralists. The impact of resulting changes in activity and energy expenditure, disease, and diet have not been investigated previously. This study examines the effects of subsistence transition on body composition of nomadic and settled Turkana. Anthropometric measurements (height, weight, skinfolds, circumferences) were taken in 1989-1990 and 1994, from a sample of 93 nomadic and 81 settled males, and 184 nomadic and 107 settled females. The two groups were compared by sex using univariate tests. Factor analysis was used to identify important components of body composition differences, and these were tested for differences between groups. The effects of age and parity on body build were removed for the analysis. Results indicate that settled males and females both have greater fat stores than nomads. No differences were found between male groups in fat-free mass. However, nomadic females develop more lean tissue and are larger than settled females. Differences in body composition between groups probably reflect differences in diet, disease, and activity. The settled diet based primarily on grains may be calorically sufficient to encourage fat tissue stores, but deficient in protein necessary for fat-free tissue development and growth. The high protein, low calorie nomadic diet may contribute to maintaining fat-free mass but not adipose tissue. Increased exposure to pathogens may contribute to differences in overall body composition by increasing the nitrogen and amino acid requirements of the settled population. Differences in physical activities may be responsible for some bodily differences by encouraging muscle hypertrophy.

Comparison of body composition among settled and nomadic Turkana of Kenya

In 1928, white Indian agents became convinced that the conditions on the Potawatomi reservation in northeast Kansas were not conducive to good health. The agents commissioned the “Pottawatomie Indian Survey”, a house to house analysis of the health status of the people on the reservation. This article examines the results of that 1928 survey. Eye maladies such as trachoma were the most commonly reported health complaints of the people, and tuberculosis the most often reported cause of death. The disease pattern of the Potawatomi in 1928 was more like that of the rest of the United States in the nineteenth century, and dissimilar from that of other neighboring Kansas populations. Though the agency surveyors of the time laid the blame for health inadequacies at the feet of the Potawatomi, this analysis suggests that poor public health services and the imposition of an alien subsistence strategy were to blame.

Health Conditions among the Potawatomi Indians of Kansas in 1928

Traditional foods of indigenous people are a potential untapped source for providing nutritious dietary options in the modern world. The rising popularity of indigenous foods such as amaranth in recent years suggests that these foods can become a popular part of a healthy diet in the United States. Traditional knowledge of indigenous people can form the basis for using wild food resources. This research provides data on 50 plant species common to the central United States that are abundant sources of dietary protein and fiber, and used traditionally by Native American tribes. Many species show promise with high amounts of protein and fiber being found in lamb’s quarters, nettles, grass seeds, and buffalo gourd seeds. These results honor traditional knowledge. In addition, many of these species could be cultivated using techniques similar to those existing for commercial grains and vegetables. Seeds and/or greens of these wild plants could easily be incorporated into the diets of many more people, improving modern diets, and the nutritional quality of food products.

/pdf/nutritional-properties-of-native-plants-and-traditional-2y623b0fr5.pdf

Steve Corbett

Papers

The Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology of Wild Tomatillos, Physalis longifolia Nutt., and Related Physalis Species: A Review

A Statistical Analysis of Medicinal Plants: A Case Study of Plant Families in Kansas and the Great Plains

Comparison of body composition among settled and nomadic Turkana of Kenya

Health Conditions among the Potawatomi Indians of Kansas in 1928

Nutritional properties of native plants and traditional foods from the central United States.