Eat the Foodshed: Improving the Diet with Local Foods
Layla Wall BS Nutrition & Dietetics: Department of Sustainability Studies Foodshed Fieldschool Participant
Background
The University of New Mexico 2011 Foodshed Fieldschool traveled
throughout the Southwest to visit agricultural production sites,
processing facilities, and community centers. This afforded the
opportunity to learn about treasured local staple foods with unique
nutritional benefits, and consider the opportunity to include them in
the diet to improve nutritional intake and benefit local growers.
Farm near Las Cruces, New Mexico
Regional Staple Foods
Staple Foods in New Mexico
Every region in the world has treasured local foods that serve as
staples. These foods tend to grow well in the areas they are
consumed and many provide unique nutritional benefits.
•New Mexico staples include corn, beans, squash, peanuts, chile,
pecans, and peanuts. These foods all are nutritional powerhouses that
have the advantage of long shelf life.
•What are your regions local foods that meet the criteria of nutritious
staples?
•What are the staples in your region that meet these criteria and how
might they benefit local growers and your region’s health?
The three sisters, corn, beans and squash, are a traditional combination of plants
that can provide inspiration for practical application of traditional food ways to
today’s diet.
•These plants grown synergistically together, and provide protein, fiber, and
micronutrients.
•These foods sustained people in the southwest for centuries, and have the potential
to support a health promoting diet today.
•They store well, thus can be stored and sold when the market allows.
•Certain heritage varieties and production methods can bring a higher price in the
marketplace for producers, while providing nutritional benefits for consumers.
Navajo Pride Beans storage area in Arizona
Peanuts grown in Southern New Mexico
Staple Food Advantages
Some key foods that support health also store well, providing several key
advantages to growers and consumers:
•Crops that store well allow for producers to sell their product with less possibility of
spoilage before reaching market.
•Consumers are able to purchase local foods that can be stored and used at their
convenience.
•Foods that store well tend to be staple foods, allowing local foods to contribute a
larger amount of calories to the diet.
•Consumers can purchase staples and use them past the season that more
perishable local foods are available.
Red Chile is a dried staple in New Mexico
A major health concern nationwide is type 2 diabetes, and New Mexico is
not an exception.
•157,000 New Mexicans have diabetes1
•Death from diabetes in NM is higher than the national average1
•The cost is over $1 billion annually in New Mexico and reduces quality of life1.
•Some traditional staples can help achieve a health promoting diet to prevent
disease.
Meeting Nutritional Guidelines with Local Staples
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics encourages consumption of a wide
range of foods that represent a rainbow of colors.
• A staple in New Mexico, blue corn, is a great way to include blue food in the diet.
•Blue corn is a whole grain, and a source of fiber.
•The USDA recommends making half your grains whole, and the Academy of Nutrition
and Dietetics advocates consuming adequate amounts of dietary fiber from a variety
of plant sources3,4.
•What are the staples in your region that have a potential to benefit health?
Blue corn tortilla chips
Blue corn is a variety of Zea Mays, and is referred to as purple corn in the scientific
literature.
• One of many colored corns that have been consumed by people in the Southwest
for centuries.
•The corn’s pigment provides the vivid color in blue and other colored corn that
serves as a possible antioxidant2. This substance is an anthocyanin pigment, a type
of flavonoid compound that gives plants various colors of blue, red, purple, and pink.
•A familiar source of anthocyanin pigment is blueberries.
•The advantage of ingesting anthocyanin pigments from blue corn for people in the
Southwest is that this food is historically part of the diet, stores well without
refrigeration, and is more affordable than fresh or frozen blueberries.
•Blue corn muffins were incorporated into the menu at La Vida Llena, a retirement
community, and were well accepted by residents of many backgrounds.
Blue Corn Research
Bean and squash crop with drip irrigation in Northern New Mexico
Staple Foods and Health
Why Blue Corn in New Mexico?
Recent research has identified the pigment found in blue corn to lower the total
adipose tissue deposition in mice fed a high fat diet2. The study compared the total
fat deposition in a group of mice fed a high fat diet with added purple corn coloring
compared to a group of mice that were fed an identical high fat diet sans purple corn
coloring. The study found that the group of mice that received the purple corn
coloring deposited significantly less adipose tissue, and had reduced levels of
mRNA of genes involved in fatty acid synthesis2. The mice that received purple corn
coloring also had reduced indicators of insulin resistance2. This is a metabolic
condition that is often a precursor to diabetes or occurs as part of Type 2 diabetes.
One major caveat is that this study subjects were mice. Perhaps future research can
help determine if this outcome holds true for human subjects.
Incorporating Blue Corn into Meals
•Use blue corn tortillas in place of flour tortillas for meals and snacks
•As a hot breakfast cereal: combine ¼ cup blue corn meal with ½ cup water and
cook until thick
•Use blue corn flour in place of yellow in cornbread, muffins, and pancakes
•Prepared as a traditional hot drink flavored with cinnamon called Atole
•Blue corn popcorn
References:
1.
2.
3.
4.
NM Department of Health. Diabetes Facts. Diabetes Prevention and Control Program.
http://www.diabetesnm.org/facts.html. Accessed July 12, 2011.
Tsuda T, Horio F, Uchida K, Aoki H, Osawa T. Dietary cyanidin 3-Obeta-D-glucoside-rich purple corn color
prevents obesity and ameliorateshyperglycemia in mice. J Nutr 2003;133:2125–30.
U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for
Americans, 2010. 7th Edition, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, December 2010.
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Position of the American Dietetic Association: Health Implications of
Dietary Fiber. J Am Diet Assoc. 2008;108:1716-1731.