IAFNS Fall 2022 Webinar Series: “Botanicals and the Growing Conditions and Food Preparation of Food Composition”
Lecture Type: Online Video
Time: 91 minutes 49 seconds
Date: November 15, 2022
Speakers: Naomi K. Fukagawa, M.D., Ph.D., Pei Chen, Ph.D., Jianghao Sun, Ph.D., Xianli Wu, Ph.D., Jae Park, Ph.D.
Topic: The Science Surrounding Growing and Preparing Food
Plant foods are foundational to the human diet. They contain botanicals and bioactive phytochemicals that researchers are only beginning to explore. Researchers also call phytochemicals “secondary metabolites.”
Botanicals are considered plants, or parts of plants, that have a medicinal or therapeutic property. On the other hand, phytochemicals are specific chemical compounds contained within plants that have a bioactive, or physiological, effect. Botanicals contain phytochemicals through which we see a change within the human body.
Each plant, including everyday food items like strawberries, corn, and coffee, contains a unique combination of phytochemicals. One example of a phytochemical is caffeine contained in coffee beans. Numerous studies have been conducted on this single phytochemical with a range of health effects found – however, this is only the tip of the iceberg. One researcher in this webinar analyzed a sample of coffee beans and found it contained at least 679 compounds. With every plant food containing their own unique compounds, imagine the immense amount of research that needs to be conducted to discover how they impact human health!
To make matters more complicated, there are other factors that impact the presence and amount of each phytochemical contained within each plant. These factors include environmental growing conditions, food processing, storage, and cooking. Researchers at the USDA will continue their exploration into how these factors impact our food system and the implications they have for human health.
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Citation
Fukagawa, N., Chen, P., Sun, J., Wu, X.. (2022, November 15). [Lecture Recording]. IAFNS-USDA Beltsville Webinar Series. https://iafns.org/event/iafns-usda-beltsville-webinar-series/
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