Bactris gasipaes – Nutritional Value, Health Benefits

Bactris gasipaes, like most sea-island palms, grows erect, with a single slender stem or, more often, several stems that are up to eight inches (20 cm) thick, in a cluster; generally armed with stiff, black spines in circular rows from the base to the summit. There are occasional specimens with only a few spines. It can typically grow to 20 meters (66 ft) or taller. The leaves are pinnate, 3 meters (9.8 ft) long on a 1 meter (3.3 ft) long petiole. The fruit is a drupe with edible pulp surrounding the single seed, 4–6 cm long and 3–5 cm broad. The rind (epicarp) of the fruit can be red, yellow, or orange when the fruit is ripe, depending on the variety of the palm.^[rx]

Peach palm is a species of palm inherent to tropical forests of South and Central America and also available in other countries such as Indonesia, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, and the Hawaiian Islands. It is often cultivated by smallholders in agroforestry systems or more rarely in monoculture. Its common names are peach palm in English and contadino in Spanish.  As a long-lived perennial plant, it is productive for 50 to 75 years on average. Fruits are edible as well as nutritious but should be cooked for 30 minutes to five hours. It benefits the animals in wild. Also, they are cultivated for the heart of the palm and the trunk makes valuable timber.

Plant description

Peach palm is a multi-stemmed, armed, and monoecious palm having an extensive but adventitious root system that reaches the height of 6 to 20 meters. Stems are unbranched, straight, and cylindrical and 12 to 26 cm in diameter having internodes covered with circular rows of dark spines and alternating with nodes without spines. Suckers form from basal axillary buds and vary in number from 1 to 12. Crown has 10 to 30 pinnate leaves and petiole is spiny and petiole sheath is 50 to 180 cm long and rachis is 180 to 400 cm long. Pinnate leaves are 2.5 to 3.6 meters long having many linear, pointed, and bifurcated leaflets about 60 to 115 cm long by 3 to 6 cm wide. It is dark green above and pale beneath and is spiny on veins on both surfaces and margins. An inflorescence arises from the axils of leaves and is covered with two spathes, short, the outer deltoid, hard and thick. Flowers (male) are cream-light yellow about 2-6 mm long and 2-6 mm wide. Female flowers are rarely green or yellow and about 3-13 mm long and 4-12 mm wide. Flowers are followed by a drupe usually shiny orange, red or yellow, and have superficial striations and are formed in axillary clusters in the crown at the top of the trunk. Fruits are oblate, ovoid, cylindrical, or conical about 2-7 cm by 2-6 cm, leathery, and three-pointed calyx. The single stem bears five or six clusters at a time. Endocarp is elliptic, ovoid, and oblong to cuneiform about 1-4 cm long by 1-2 cm wide and has three pores. Seeds are single, conical, 2 cm long having a hard, thin shell and white, oily, coconut flavored kernel.

Leaves

Leaves are pinnate, linear, pointed and 8 to 12 ft long (2.4–3.7 m) long. Leaflets are 1 ¼-inch-wide (3.1-cm). Leaf veins are covered with short spines and are green to dark green.

Inflorescence (Flowers)

Inflorescence forms from leaf axils and is enclosed in a spathe and comprises racemes 8 to 12 inches long. Racemes have yellowish male and female flowers and terminal flowers are all males. Flowers are pollinated by insects and cross-pollinations improve the fruit.

Fruit

Fruit is a drupe and yellow to orange to scarlet or brownish which turns purplish when ripened fully. Fruits may be round or oval about 1 to 2 inches in diameter having 3-pointed calyx at the stem end. The peel is thin and the pulp is yellow to light orange, dry, sweet, and mealy. The fruit has one seed enclosed in a thin endocarp. Some fruit may be seedless.

Heart of Palm

The central white and softcore young stems are edible. Young suckers are 3 to 4 feet high and are cut at their bases. Leaves and outer leaf stems are removed till the central core is exposed. Then the core is cut loose and harvested for consumption.

Health Benefits of Peach palm

1. Offers energy

Peach palm has a high content of starch which makes it effective for providing good energy. Peach palm is an attractive fruit to promote its capabilities. The energy it offers helps to meet their needs.

2. Growth

It is helpful for those in growth periods. Children with active growth require a supply of energy for enhancing metabolism and the consumption of peach palm is effective to get some calories. It has a significant amount of folate, a vitamin that assists prospective moms to prevent the child from neural tube defects such as anencephaly.

3. Recovery after illness

An intake of peach palm assists speed up recovery after debilitating illness and even after surgical operations. It also replenishes lost energy in no time. Consult the doctor of a health practitioner for use.

4. Supports vision

Consume peach palm to add strength to the vision. It has a vision strengthening ability that attributes rich content of Vitamin A and provides more than 1490% of the daily recommended allowance for this vitamin in a serving of 100 grams. This vitamin is essential to relieve dryness of the eye and its deficiency results in night blindness.

5. Enhance immunity?

Peach palm has a high content of Vitamin A and significant amounts of Vitamin C as well as other antioxidants that help to boost the immune system of the body. It helps to stimulate the production of white blood cells and protects the body from invading microorganisms such as viruses and bacteria.

6. Cancer prevention

Peach palm has antioxidants that help in preventing cancer by interrupting the free radical activities which result to cancerous growth when associated with other body cells.

7. Manages insulin? is low or not working well. সহজ বাংলা: রক্তে চিনি বেশি থাকার রোগ।" data-rx-term="diabetes" data-rx-definition="Diabetes is a condition where blood sugar stays too high because insulin is low or not working well. সহজ বাংলা: রক্তে চিনি বেশি থাকার রোগ।">diabetes?

Peach palm has a significant amount of fiber that helps diabetic patients by preventing spikes in blood sugar levels and also stimulates insulin? secretion. It intercepts sugar molecules during digestion and releases them slowly into the bloodstream. The sugar content in the blood remains fairly stable and helps to limit insulin in type 2 diabetic patients.

8. Heart health

Fiber is a crucial non-nutritive component found in foods. It offers numerous health benefits. The activity helps to protect the heart by absorbing excess cholesterol? from the body. The presence of excess cholesterol clumps in arteries and blocks the flow of blood to vital organs such as the brain and heart which could result to stroke? and heart attack.

9. Skin health

Peach palm has a high content of Vitamin C and Vitamin A and a healthy balance of fluid helps to maintain skin health. These vitamins assist the re-growth of new skin cells. It also protects the skin cells in the body. Potassium ensures one to have a normal water balance in the body. The element facilitates the exchange of fluid to cells that make it function at optimal levels.

10. Prevent Atherosclerosis

Peach palm fruit lowers the possibility of atherosclerosis. It stimulates the bloodstream to eliminate LDL and triglycerides. Moreover, it promotes the number of HDL inside the blood. It prevents the effect of atherosclerosis and stroke? disease.

Medicinal uses

• Peach palm is used as a folk remedy for headaches and stomachaches.
• Roots are also used medicinally.
• Use the seeds oil as a rub in order to ease rheumatic pains.

Culinary uses

• Peach palm is used as a staple food in Central and South America.
• Fruits are boiled in water or salted water or roasted and the cooked mesocarp is consumed.
• Mash the cooked mesocarp and ferment for 1 to 2 days then add water to fermented mash for making drinks for breakfast and other times.
• Preserve the whole fruits dried or smoked.
• In Columbia, the cooked mesocarp is combined with milk, several condiments, and sugar for preparing a commercial beverage.
• Eat the cooked fruit with salt or honey and use it for making compotes and jellies.
• Make chips from the fruit.
• Use the flour derived from the pulp for making soups, noodles, portions of pasta, tortillas, infant formula, cakes, and other confectionery.
• Use the cooked palm heart in salads and vegetables in various recipes.

Other Facts

• Peach palm has been utilized as a shade tree in coffee and cacao plantations.
• Fruit provides meals that are valued as feed for livestock (pigs, chickens) and fish culture.
• Excess flowers are chopped and fed to chickens.
• The wood from the trunk is used to manufacture building materials such as parquet, panels; luxury furniture; spears, bows, arrows, harpoons, fishing poles, bed-boards, hammer handles, siding for houses, beaters, and spindles for weaving, carvings, and other handicraft items, taking advantage of its beauty, great strength and elasticity.
• The long fibers on the inside of the trunk show promise for use in fibro cement products.
• Hollowed-out trunks serve as water troughs or conduits or as flower planters.
• The long spines are used as sewing needles.
• The leaves are utilized for thatching and basketry and as animal feed.
• A green dye can be extracted from the leaves for dyeing other fibers.
• The roots provide a vermicide.
• Unused leaf and stem parts can be used to manufacture paper, organic fertilizers, and animal food supplements.

References