The potential of Strychnos spp L. utilization in food insecurity alleviation: a review.

Abstract

Southern Africa has a vast resource of edible fruits, which can be useful in combating food and nutritional insecurity. However, many of these fruits are underutilized. An example of such underutilized fruit are the Strychnos fruits (monkey oranges). This review aims to highlight Strychnos spp as a potential food source to aid in the alleviation of food insecurity. This may promote more in-depth research on their nutritional value and processing procedures. Data bases such as Science Direct, Springer Link, Wiley online library and NCBI were used to construct this review. From the literature reviewed, there are numerous advantages within this genus, such as high fruit yields, drought tolerance and time of fruit maturity. Furthermore, little is known about the nutritional value of the fruit components (seeds, rind and pulp) and information regarding seed propagation is sparse, which has also hindered domestication of the genus. However, the genus appears to be a rich source of fibre, vitamin C and essential minerals such as iron. By expanding the knowledge surrounding the fruit of these species, their potential as a new food source may be exploited for its thickening properties, high micronutrient content and medicinal potential.