Bitter, ugly but so good for your health  

WA Today has an article on dietary imbalances and an unattractive vegetable that could help reduce them - Bitter, ugly but so good for your health.

It looks like a wart-covered zucchini and has an equally unappetising name, but experts say it could help rescue the world's population from malnutrition and disease.

Bitter melon is rich in vitamins and offers protection against diabetes, says Dr Dyno Keatinge, which is just as well because it is unlikely to win fans on appearance or taste.

"It's not a sweet vegetable, and that's why I like it in salad and a whole range of things," said Dr Keatinge, head of a not-for-profit research institute which uses horticulture to fight poverty and malnutrition.

"You do eat it here in Australia and it's something that should be encouraged for people that are pre-diabetic.

"Bitter melon (or gourd, Momordica charantia) has properties which helps ameliorate type 2 diabetes."

Dr Keatinge is visiting Australia this week as part of a tour of the South Pacific, to assess what he describes as "severe" dietary imbalances in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Fiji and Samoa.

They are home to some of the estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide who suffer from a lack of basic vitamins and minerals in their diets, leading to poorer health and mental development and underperforming immune systems.

The World Vegetable Centre's initiatives have included developing a "Golden Tomato" with six times the vitamin A of standard varieties, which is now grown by townspeople in impoverished countries.

A project in the Philippines in which several schools grew indigenous vegetables which were cooked and sold through their canteen is, with government backing, being expanded across 8,000 schools.

The centre's work produces more productive and palatable varieties of vitamin-rich indigenous plants to encourage their consumption across Africa and Asia, along with efforts to make bitter melons more pest and disease resistant to improve crop yields.

"If we gave these people (vitamin) pills they'd become dependent," Dr Keatinge said of those targeted by the centre's projects. ...

There are more than 50,000 edible plant species in the world, but global food supplies rest on just 15 crop plants led by rice, maize and wheat.

Dr Keatinge says the incidence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes is soaring in impoverished countries due to increasing reliance on these "starchy staples".

Malnutrition does not only refer to the under-nourished, he says, pointing to record rates of obesity in Australia and other developed countries.

"The take-home message for Australians is to eat as many varied vegetables as you can - different colours, orange, green - and make sure you have them in balance with the rest of the diet," he said.

"So cut back on some of the meat consumption, have less carbohydrates and increase the fruit and vegetable intake, then you will live a longer and healthier life".