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Bambara Nuts - Fact Sheet

FACT SHEET

Written by 

Kudzai Musengi - African Food Enthusiast, Founder of Sensational Seasonals

Researched by 

Trust Nyirenda - PhD (Plant Medicine) Inview, MSc Medicine

Elliot Nyagumbo - MPhil (Ethnopharmacology and Toxicology), MSc (Plant Biotechnology), BSc (Plant Biochemistry)


WHAT IS THE FOOD


Vigna subterranea (common names: Bambara groundnut, Bambara nut, Bambara bean, Congo goober, earth pea, ground-bean, or hog-peanut) is a member of the family Fabaceae. Its name is derived from the Bambara tribe, who currently lives in Mali.


WHERE IS IT FOUND

The plant originated in West Africa but is grown in many parts of Southern Africa


ETHNOMEDICAL USES


  • Reduction in dangers of stomach cancer
  • Fatty acids present in nuts provide antioxidant properties capable of suppressing development of carcinogenic constituents in the stomach. Thus, the nuts could prevent stomach cancer.
  • Antimicrobial action
  • Bambara milk can serve as a probiotic. Probiotics minimize proliferation and activity of pathogenic organisms.
  • Rich radix of lysine
  • Lysine Production (Nwinyi and Umane, 2019)

RESEARCH 

Most people will benefit from adding Bambara nuts to their diet as they are high in fibre, protein and Omega 3 & 6 fats. People who are diabetics and or suffer from coeliac disease can eat bambara nuts


NUTRITIONAL CONTENT & PHARMACOLOGY 

Bambara groundnut cultivars [Accessions No: TVSU 5 – Bambara Groundnut White (BGW) and TVSU 146 – Bambara Groundnut Brown (BGB)] and compare their nutritional, physicochemical, and functional properties with market sample [Bambara groundnut commercial (BGC)]. Higher protein content was observed in BGW (20.73%) and BGB (20.14%) as compared to BGC (18.50%). Also, the fat and ash contents of BGB and BGW were higher than that of BGC. Also, the new varieties were found to contain higher levels of some essential fatty acids such as linoleic and linolenic acids. The concentration of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic, ascorbic acids, pyrodoxine, alpha tocopherol, and vitamin K were also significantly higher in the two new varieties. 


The new varieties were good sources of magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, sodium, and potassium. The oil and water absorption and swelling capacities of whole, defatted, and protein concentrate flour of the new varieties increase with increase in temperature. The defatted flour and protein concentrate of brown Bambara groundnut was found to exhibit high emulsifying activity and stability at different pH’s and salt concentrations. The new varieties possess significantly higher foaming capacity and stability than the commercial variety. The results obtained from this study have shown the potential for the industrial and household use of the new Bambara groundnut cultivars into shelf stable protein products and could be a useful ingredient in food formulations (Adeleke et al., 2018).


Black speckled seeds had the highest (crude protein) CP after 8 (20.67%), 16 (22.11%), 24 (20.68 %), and 48 hours (20.77%), on the other hand cream seeds had the lowest CP after 16 (19.30%), 24 (18.71%), and 72 hours (19.16 %). The results showed that nutrient composition varied during early imbibition and the variations could be associated with seed colour and duration of imbibition.The nutritive value and mineral contents of bambara groundnut landrace selections varied considerably in response to water regimes, sequential harvesting, locations and seasons (Gqaleni, 2014).


The seeds of bambara nut are also known for their high content of minerals like calcium, iron, potassium and sodium (Aremu and Ibrahim, 2014). These elements serve vital functions including controlling osmotic pressures, maintenance of acid-base equilibrium, clotting of blood, normal functioning of the brain and the production of blood Olanipekun et al. (2012) opined that the oil extracted from bambara nut seeds is predominantly made of unsaturated fatty acids which are primarily used to produce hormone like substance that regulates a wide range of functions, e.g. those that could help in the prevention of obesity, cardiovascular diseases, heart attack and inflammation response to injury infections.


The seed is regarded as a balanced food because when compared to most food legumes, it is rich in iron and the protein contains high lysine and methionine. In addition, it is known to contain 63 % carbohydrates, 18 % oil and the fatty acid content is predominmatly linoleic, palmitic and linolenic acids. It was reported also that it is richer than groundnut in essential amino acids such as leucine, isoleucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine and valine (Olaleye et al., 2013)


The results revealed starch to be the highest component of the carbohydrate which is an indication of high energy content of the seed. Mubarak, [10] reported that cooking processes significantly reduced stachyose, reducing sugar and raffinose but the reduction in starch they observed after cooking treatment was not significant which is an indication that after cooking, considerable amount of the starch would still be available for utilization by the body (Olayeke et al., 2012)


The four Bambara groundnuts are good sources of protein and carbohydrate. With the exception of the cream Bambara, the extracts from the other Bambara grains (maroon, black and brown) showed appreciable amounts of phenols including flavonoids. Total flavonoid and phenolic contents of the Bambara extracts were dependent on the boiling time and type of grain. Grain coat colour affected the total phenolic content and apparently influenced the antoxdant activities of the extracts. The total phenolic, total flavonoid contents and the antioxidant properties of the grains generally followed the order Maroon > Black > Brown. All the extracts also showed good antimicrobial activity against E. coli in the same order.They also had lipid peroxidation activity and anti-inflammatory potentials, which could be used reducing chronic inflammation, the root cause of many serious degenerative diseases (Oyeyinka et al.,2021)


OTHER INTERESTING USES

HOW TO COOK - watch Youtube play list here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa16NseZcUrmqv-b6UCsOHeHCIDYr2E92 

 


REFERENCES

Olanipekun, B.F. Otunola, E.T., Adejuyitan, J.A. and Adeyanju, J.A.(2012). Proximate and Fatty Acid Composition of Bambara Ground Nut (Voandzeia subterranean L. thouars) as Influenced by Fermentation with a Combination of Rhizopus oligosporus and R.nigricans, Transnational Journal of Science and Technology , 2 (9): 77


Aremu, M. O. and Ibrahim, H. (2014). Mineral Content of Some Plant Foods Grown in Nigeria: A Review Food Science and Quality Management, Vol. 29: 73-89


Anhwange, B. A., & Atoo, G. H. (2015). Proximate composition of indigenous bambara nuts (Vigna subterranean (L.) Verdc). SCSR J. Pure Appl. Sci, 2(1), 11-16.


Olaleye, A. A., Adeyeye, E. I., & Adesina, A. J. (2013). Chemical composition of bambara groundnut (V. subterranea L. Verdc) seed parts. Bangladesh Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 48(3), 167-178.


Oyeleke, G. O., Afolabi, O., & Isola, A. D. (2012). Some quality characteristics and carbohydrate fractions of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea L.) seed flour. IOSR Journal of Applied Chemistry (IOSR-JAC), 2(4), 16-19.


Adeleke, O. R., Adiamo, O. Q., & Fawale, O. S. (2018). Nutritional, physicochemical, and functional properties of protein concentrate and isolate of newly‐developed Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterrenea L.) cultivars. Food science & nutrition, 6(1), 229-242.

Gqaleni, P. (2014). Nutritional value of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.): a human and animal perspective (Doctoral dissertation).


Nwinyi, O. C., & Umane, P. O. (2019, September). Review on probiotics potentials, nutritional composition of Bambara nut (Vigna Subterranea (L.)-an underutilized legume. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 331, No. 1, p. 012057). IOP Publishing.


Oyeyinka, S. A., Abdulsalam, A. O., El-Imam, A. M. A., Oyeyinka, A. T., Olagunju, O. F., Kolawole, F. L., ... & Njobeh, P. B. (2021). Total phenolic content, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial potentials of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea L.) seed extract. British Food Journal.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigna_subterranea