Groundbreaking research from the University of Queensland confirms the long-held health benefits of the Kakadu plum, a native Australian bushfood with a rich history of traditional use. This study sheds light on the plum’s powerful antioxidant properties and the role of gut microbiota in enhancing its therapeutic potential.
The Forgotten Superfruit
The humble Kakadu plum, sometimes referred to as the billygoat plum or Terminalia ferdinandiana is a fruit that has quite the story to tell. Long-used by the Indigenous communities in Australia’s Northern Territory, these humble bushfoods treat everything from headaches to colds and act as a natural antiseptic It has been used for generations by Indigenous communities living in Australia’s Northern Territory with kakadu plums ( Terminalia ferdinandiana) long recognized for its healing properties.
But the Kakadu plum has been overshadowed by its more celebrated superfood equivalents, despite it being used in Aboriginal traditional medicine for centuries. But a new study by researchers at the University of Queensland’s Center for Nutrition and Food Sciences has shone a light on this forgotten fruit, confirming what Indigenous Australians already knew; that it was super healthy.
Unlocking the Antioxidant Powerhouse
Conducted by Dr. Oladipupo Adiamo, the study concentrated on exploring that Kakadu plum powder is a safe and effective food component. The team was particularly interested in the fruit’s high vitamin C content, which has been documented well before with other polyphenolic compounds not so much.
Polyphenols are naturally occurring compounds found in plants, which have powerful antioxidant properties. Free radicals are unstable molecules that initiate cell damage and play a role in causing several disease states, and essential oils because of their remarkable free-radical scavenging activity can neutralize the effect.
While Kakadu plums are known to be packed with polyphenolic compounds, the researchers discovered that these undergo a substantial change in the gut. It does this by breaking down the large polyphenolic molecules into small metabolites that your body can absorb. Curiously, these compounds had even greater antioxidant effects compared to the higher-mass congeners.
This supports the crucial role of our gut microbiota in harnessing the entire health benefits from plant-based foods. The biotransformation of polyphenols from the Kakadu plum by the gut microbiota helps to enhance the antioxidant potential of these fruits and improve their bioavailability.
Conclusion
These discoveries are a further endorsement of the centuries-old claims about just how good for you the Kakadu plum is, with research from the University of Queensland lending a scientific slant to all that traditional knowledge. So, more research on the mechanism of action in terms of gut microbiota might propel the use and recognition of this forgotten superfruit.
With the food industry’s ever-increasing demand for natural plant-based ingredients, the Kakadu plum’s potential as a diverse and nutritious ingredient in mainstream foods is promising to be realized. As more people begin to learn about the bubble fruit and as technology improves for mass production we could finally see this bushfood transition from an unappreciated novelty into the culturally significant natural product it should be.
