Bamboo shoots emerge as one of the richest and most significant forest food resources, boasting high levels of protein, dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins, and various bioactive compounds. With low fat content, they exhibit substantial nutritional and health value.
Recently, the team led by Dr. Wu Liangru, a researcher at the Bamboo Research and Development Center of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, published a review paper in the international journal Trends in Food Science & Technology. The paper highlights the increasing attention from scientists and the industry towards the research and development of bamboo shoots and their food products. Bamboo shoots are not only envisioned as staple food to ensure food security but also as functional food ingredients for the production of high-value-added functional foods.
The paper reviews the history of bamboo shoot consumption worldwide, the development of the bamboo shoot industry, the main nutritional components of bamboo shoots, and their potential health benefits. Furthermore, it explores the use and potential of various functional components of bamboo shoots as food ingredients, as well as their applications in cooking and the production of high-value-added functional foods.
Dr. Wu Liangru, the corresponding author of the paper, explained that research has found bamboo shoots to be nutritionally rich, with protein content comparable to fresh cow's milk, making them a high-quality plant-based milk from the forest. Bamboo shoots contain a variety of bioactive compounds with antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-cancer, anti-obesity, and anti-diabetic properties.
In the past decade, innovative bamboo shoot products with high added value, such as bamboo shoot powder (a new food ingredient), bamboo shoot vermicelli, noodles, and bread, have been developed based on the health benefits and widespread consumption of bamboo shoots. However, despite the enormous potential application value of bamboo shoot products, they still face various challenges.
The review also emphasizes the importance of increasing global consumer awareness of bamboo shoots, improving the utilization rate of bamboo shoots through processing, and overcoming the challenges faced by processing enterprises in the production and sale of functional bamboo shoot products. This will contribute to the global promotion and application of bamboo shoot products and bamboo shoot-based ingredients, gradually transforming bamboo shoots from traditional Chinese delicacies to future global foods, and promoting the high-quality and high-speed development of the bamboo shoot industry.
The Bamboo Research and Development Center of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration is the first author and corresponding author unit of the paper. This work was supported by the Yunnan Province Science and Technology Talents and Expert Plan (Academician Expert Workstation) project and the Zhejiang Province Key Research and Development Plan project.
For more information, refer to the related paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2024.104399
