Non-conventional food plants (PANC): accessible, functional, and sustainable nutritional source

Abstract

Non-conventional food plants (PANC) are unknown yet, low-recognized and deserve special attention from scientific research. Issues such as locations and cultural and social-economic cause low commercialization and consumption of PANC. In general, this source of nutrition is very limited to small businesses or cultivations since the staples market is selective. On the other hand, there is an intense change of behavior to establish healthy eating, free of additives, conservatives, dyes, and minimal industrial processing that can benefit the body. That is important to mention that vegan choices should be considered. The analytical methods reported in scientific literature involve wet analysis using strong acids or oxidizing compounds. Then, this proposal aims to develop analytical methods minimally invasive for the investigation of mineral composition of PANC using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) combined with chemometrics. (AU)