Global plant diversity as a reservoir of micronutrients for humanity

With more than two billion people suffering from malnutrition and diets homogenizing globally, it is vital to identify and conserve nutrient-rich species that may contribute to improving food security and diversifying diets. Of the approximately 390,000 vascular plant species known to science, thousands have been reported to be edible, yet their nutritional content remains poorly characterized. Here we use phylogenetic information to identify plants with the greatest potential to support strategies alleviating B-vitamin deficiencies. We predict the B-vitamin profiles of >6,400 edible plants lacking nutritional data and identify 1,044 species as promising key sources of B vitamins. Several of these source species should become conservation priorities, as 63 (6%) are threatened in the wild and 272 (26%) are absent from seed banks. Moreover, many of these conservation-priority source species overlap with hotspots of malnutrition, highlighting the need for safeguarding strategies to ensure that edible plant diversity remains a reservoir of nutrition for future generations, particularly in countries needing it most. Although by no means a silver bullet to tackling malnutrition, conserving a diverse portfolio of edible plants, unravelling their nutritional potentials, and promoting their sustainable use are essential strategies to enhance global nutritional resilience. Thousands of plants are known to be edible, yet we lack nutritional data for many of them. This study predicts the B-vitamin profiles for edible plants and finds many have the potential to help alleviate deficiencies and should be conservation priorities.

Automated summary

This study predicts the B-vitamin profiles for over 6,000 edible plants lacking nutritional data and identifies many species as promising key sources of B vitamins, some of which are threatened in the wild and absent from seed banks. This highlights the importance of safeguarding edible plant diversity to ensure nutrition for future generations.