Abstract
The utilization of plant food for therapeutic purposes can be seen as the biggest regard for natural flora, which provides bio-active materials that have medicinal values. Dietary fibres are acknowledged to be of significance. What has yet to be articulated is the composition of fibre in plant foods. More specifically in this commentary, the fibre in edible processed cassava product and the potential to make fibre supplement from the otherwise waste products have yet to be appreciated. Indeed, cassava has yet to be included in several studies on antidiabetic plants. It is known that cassava may be high in substances that are regarded harmful to humans, but about 80% of it is removed during processing of the tuber. What this commentary brings to the fore is that soluble fibres in cassava include uronic acid, pectin and β-glucans. These have nutraceutical values including hypocholesterolemic and hypoglycemic effects needed in diabetes management. These can be extracted to produce supplement of naturally-occurring dietary fibre that lowers plasma LDL, VLDL-cholesterol and triglycerides and blood glucose. This potentially improves the agricultural economics and medical nutritional values of cassava.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-5 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Integrative Food, Nutrition and Metabolism |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |