Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in human nutrition

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Rome, 1990

Copyright

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is hereby granted without fee and without a formal request provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and full citation on the first page. Copyright for components of this work owned by others than FAO must be honoured. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or fee.

Request permission to publish from:

The Chief Editor,
FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla,
00100 Rome, Italy,
e-mail:copyright@fao.org

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

1. Introduction

2. Origins and distribution

3. Production and consumption

Production
Consumption

4. Nutritive value

Nutritional composition of roots and tubers
Carbohydrates
Protein
Lipids
Vitamins
Minerals
Root crop leaves

5. Methods of cooking and processing

Cassava
Cooking and processing of yam
Cocoyam
Banana and plantain
Sweet potato
Potato

6. Effect of processing on nutritional value

7. Toxic substances and antinutritional factors

Cassava toxicity
Sweet potato
Potato
Cocoyam
Banana and plantain
Yam
Phytate

8. New frontiers for tropical root crops and tubers

Commercial dehydration of root crops and their use
Use of root crops as a source of industrial raw material
Use of root crops as animal feed
Production of single cell protein for livestock feed

9. Food security in developing countries

Constraints to production
Conclusion

Annex 1 - Some recipes based on roots, tubers, plantains and bananas

Annex 2 - Meals for young children

Annex 3 - Wheatless bread

Bibliography