Chemical Caracterizacion Caatinga Plants

Food Research International 44 (2011) 2112–2119

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Food Research International
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / f o o d r e s

Chemical characterization of native wild plants of dry seasonal forests of the
semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil
Viviany Teixeira do Nascimento a, Naíra Paes de Moura b,Margarida Angélica da Silva Vasconcelos c,
Maria Inês Sucupira Maciel d,⁎, Ulysses Paulino de Albuquerque e
a

Rede Nordeste Biotecnologia, Brazil
Home Economist, Brazil
Department of Nutrition of UFPE, Brazil
d
Department of Home Science of UFRPE, Brazil
e
Department of Biology of UFRPE, Brazil
b
c

article

info

Article history:
Received 14 September 2010
Accepted 9 December2010
Keywords:
Wild food plants
Caatinga
Nutritional composition
Food potential

abstract
The present study seeks to increase the knowledge of the chemical and nutritional characteristics of the
species in the Caatinga (semi-arid region from northeastern Brazil) and quantify total anthocyanins, flavonols
and carotenoids that are in the native food resources. Nine species were selected fromethnobotanical survey
conducted in two rural communities in northeastern Brazil. The study revealed the potential of various food
plants in the Caatinga, especially in comparison to other wild species of the same genus that have been
investigated in other studies. The following species are of interest for future studies on bioactive substances:
Eugenia sp. and Sideroxylon obtusifolium. It isinteresting to investigate the potential agroindustry of the latter
species, along with Syagrus cearensis and Ziziphus joazeiro. Nevertheless, the most immediate impact of this
study may be to improve the populations' use of species such as S. cearensis, S. obtusifolium, and Eugenia sp.,
which have elevated nutritional potential and could be used in programs to improve the quality of foodamong the rural population.
© 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Brazil is the country with the greatest biodiversity on the planet.
Recent estimates indicate that the number of known Brazilian species is
approximately 210,000, which is equal to approximately 13% of the
world's biota (Queiroz, Rapini, & Giulietti, 2006). A significant portion of
this diversity is in thesemi-arid Northeast, known as Caatinga. This biome,
includes a number of different vegetation types, depending on the local
rainfall regime, soil type, altitude and exposure, and this diversity of the
natural vegetation cover is accompanied by an expressive biological and
cultural diversity (see Araújo, Castro, & Albuquerque, 2007).
The Caatinga has fundamental importance in the lives of peoplethat inhabit this region because it offers a wide variety of plants that
are used as fuel (Ramos, Medeiros, Almeida, Feliciano, & Albuquerque,
2008a, 2008b), building materials (Nascimento, Sousa, Alves, Araújo,
& Albuquerque, 2009) and medicinal purposes (Albuquerque &
Oliveira, 2007, Albuquerque, Medeiros, et al., 2007; Albuquerque,
Monteiro, Ramos, & Amorin, 2007; Alencar, Araújo,Amorim, &

⁎ Corresponding author. Laboratório de Análises Físico-Químicas de Alimentos,
Departamento De Ciências Domésticas, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Av.
Dom Manoel de Medeiros s/n, Dois Irmãos, CEP: 52171-900 Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.
Tel.: +55 81 33206536.
E-mail address: m.ines@dcd.ufrpe.br (M.I.S. Maciel).
0963-9969/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rightsreserved.
doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2010.12.024

Albuquerque, 2010; Alencar, Araújo, Amorin, & Albuquerque, 2009;
Almeida, Ramos, Amorim, & Albuquerque, 2010; Araújo, Alencar,
Amorim, & Albuquerque, 2008). However, only in recent years has
this relationship been further explored, especially in relation to
the use of medicinal plants (Albuquerque, Silva, Cabral, Alencar, &
Andrade, 2008). By...