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Benefits of the fruit of the baobab tree



Due to the benefits of the baobab fruit, baobab fruit sales have increased in the United Kingdom by over 1,600% as commodity experts suggest that it is about to become a new western super-food. 

The benefits of baobab fruit have long been known in Africa, but now sales have gone mainstream in supermarkets which have introduced a range of baobab fruit products, such as yoghurt, as a health food.

The baobab fruit contains three times as much vitamin C as an orange, and has high levels of antioxidants. Baobab fruit, which tastes like a blend of pineapple and melon, is also full of magnesium and iron, and it can potentially help regulate blood glucose levels.

Baobab trees grow in 32 countries across Africa, including Kenya and Tanzania where a new tree was discovered in 2012. 

As a fruit, baobab is unique in that it dries naturally on the branch before it is harvested, then the seeds are removed and sieved into a powder. It is ideal for adding to smoothies and juices, or using as an alternative to sugar for sweetening.

The potential market for expansion is huge. Currently, only 23% of UK consumers have heard of the African fruit, according to a survey of 2,050 people commissioned by The Grocer. According to The Grocer’s report, the UK food distributor Ocado has reported a 27% increase in weekly sales since the start of 2018 due, in part, to the rise of “liquid breakfasts.”

Some scientists and traders have expressed concerns that if baobab fruit sales increase internationally, it would become tantamount to a crop, which could threaten it as a local resource and a key part of local diets and medicines. They suggest that failure to regulate the harvest and export, and over-farming, could also affect the tree’s bio-diversity.





https://www.nation.co.ke

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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