Native American or Not, Stinging Nettles Here We Come!

I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving and didn’t allow not even one single green been to go to waste!

You know I didn’t.

In fact I am still hungry; hungry to learn more about traditional Native American foods, that is.

After writing Moving from Reservations to Rituals I was curious to learn more about the traditional diet that existed before Native Americans were relocated to reservations and stripped of their cultural heritage. I wanted to know how their original foods compared to modern replacements. I wanted to know and I still do. But I am learning... 

Once again I’ve jumped into my research and once again I have discovered an article that proved to be an invaluable source of understanding. I found the article, Nutrient composition of selected traditional United States Northern Plains Native American plant foods, in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis through the Hunter College website. Published last year (2014), the study compared traditional “Native American plant foods” to modern substitutes. Unfortunately the study covered only a limited sample of Native American foods, but is one of the first of its kind, and offers a dynamic understanding regarding the importance of traditional “wild plant foods.”

Before I attempt to summarize the findings, I would like to point out that though similar foods commonly found across the U.S. were used for comparison, the study did not address the prevalence of those “similar foods” in the average Native American diet today. Rather these foods were used as a basis of comparison due to their relative similarity with the “wild plant foods”: "Contemporary foods considered as comparable in proximate composition and key minerals and vitamins were

used for comparison" (140, Agnew et. al.) Despite these nutritional similarities, the traditional foods proved in most cases to be remarkably distinct from their contemporary counterpart. 

The traditional foods harvested and used in the study were as follows: Cattail broad leaf shoots, chokecherries, beaked hazelnuts, lambs quarters, prickly pear, prairie turnips, stinging nettles, wild plums, wild raspberries, and wild rose hips. I’ve heard of rose hips and wild plums and raspberries, but I never knew what they were. The others I just plain never heard of.

I am shocked that I (the foodie, or so I thought) could be so utterly unfamiliar with these wild foods! I can't help but wonder what other foods are out there just waiting to be eaten?

One bite at a time. For now, let's look at these plant foods more closely...

This following table is taken from the study, it shows the exact type, amount and preparation used for each of the plant foods, as well as other information including the comparable contemporary food:

Table 2.

Traditional Native American and comparable contemporary plant foods and serving sizes (see Table 3 for further description of the Native American plants).

Traditional Native American food			Comparable contemporary food			Suggested serving size
Common name	Scientific name	NDB no.a	Common name	Scientific name	NDB no.a	Volumeb	Grams
Cattail broad leaf shoots, steamed	Typha latifolia L.	35195	Asparagus, boiled	Asparagacea officinalis	11012	½ cup	90
Chokecherries	Prunus virginiana L.	35204	Gooseberries	Ribes spp.	09107	½ cup	75
Hazelnuts, beaked	Corylus cornuta Marshall	35233	Hazelnuts	Corylus spp.	12120	½ cup	25.4
Lambsquarters, raw	Chenopodium album L.	11244	Spinach, raw	Spinacia oleracea	11457	1 oz.	30
Lambsquarters, steamed	Chenopodium album L.	35197	Spinach, boiled	Spinacia oleracea	11458	2 cups	180
Plains pricklypear, raw	Opuntia polyacantha Haw.	35198	Apple, raw	Malus domestica	09003	1 cup	149
Plains pricklypear, broiled	Opuntia polyacantha Haw.	35199	Apple, microwaved	Malus domestica	09006	1 cup	115
Prairie turnips, raw	Psoralea esculenta Pursh.	35200	Turnips, raw	Brassica rapa (Rapiferagroup)	11564	½ cup	130
Prairie turnips, boiled	Psoralea esculenta Pursh.	35201	Turnips, boiled	Brassica rapa (Rapifera group)	11565	1 cup	156
Stinging nettles, blanched	Urtica dioica L.	35205	Peppermint leaves	Mentha × piperita L. nothosubsp. Piperita	02064	1 cup	20
Wild plums	Prunus americana Marshall	35206	Plums	Prunus spp.	09279	½ cup	132
Wild raspberries	Rubus idaeus L.	35202	Raspberries	Rubus spp.	09302	2 large	61.5
Wild rose hipsc	Rosa pratincola Greene	35203	Cranberries	Vaccinium macrocarpon	09078	½ cup	48

a

Database entry number, USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (USDA, 2011).

b

1 cup = 237 mL.

c

Also known as prairie rose (Rosa arkansana Porter var. suffulta (Greene) Cockerell) ( USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2013).

The study was based on the idea that the traditional plant foods listed above could potentially offer needed nutrients if resurrected and added to the Native American mainstream diet: “The foods are still available in the wild and could be nutritionally significant in contemporary tribal diets if they replace the less healthy, mainstream foods pervasive in the US diet as a whole” (Agnew et. al.) Is it absurd to apply this notion to all Americans? While not necessarily part of an historical American diet, the wild foods listed above may still provide high amounts of nutrients lacking in most American diets.

The question then becomes how nutritious are these food really? There are many different nutrients that the body depends on for optimal nutrition; so one food high in fiber and vitamin C may be low in another important nutrient. People need a variety of foods to reach and sustain good health, which is why the study covered several different nutritional factors. One such factor is the amount of fiber that each food contained. Fiber is a crucial ingredient for obtaining good health in all types of people. The following table, taken from the study, shows how most of the wild plant foods were significantly higher in fiber than their counterparts:

Sorry for the horrible picture quality, having some technical difficulties on my end!

Did you have any idea you were getting so little fiber from foods like spinach and plums? I had always assumed that simply because I was eating fruits and veggies I was getting enough, but it seems that is wrong. In fact the study elaborates on the significance of the fiber content in each of these foods, writing the following: “All of the traditional foods except wild rose hips, stinging nettles, and beaked hazelnuts contained more than twice as much dietary fiber than the corresponding contemporary food” … “supplementing the diet with even one serving per day of these traditional foods could be recommended to significant increase fiber intake” (3.2.1. Agnew et. al.) Imagine how many regular raspberries it would take to reach the amount of fiber in just one wild raspberry? Definitely food for thought, but fiber is not the only important nutrient.

“The incidence of chronic disease has increased in US Native American Plains tribes in the last several generations along with a shift away from consumption of traditional foods”

 (Conti, 2008, Taylor et al., 2005 and Welty et al., 2002).

Here is a look at how other nutrients compared:

*the tables shown above are copied directly from the Study: Nutrient composition of selected traditional United States Northern Plains Native American plant foods (Agnew et. al.)

While it’s simply not possible to summarize the study’s various conclusions in their entirety, it should suffice to say that several of the traditional plant foods exceed their modern counterparts in providing essential nutrients needed for health. Additionally, based on the findings it seems safe to say that a diet rich in such foods could, should, and would offer a healthier alternative to the mainstream foods found in the diets of many Native Americans. All of the plant foods studied are low in fat and most are high in several essential nutrients, while the mainstream foods (not studied here), often consumed by Native Americans today, by contrast tend to be processed, high in fat and low in vitamins and minerals.

As the study points out: “one serving of steamed lambsquarters, a rich source or many nutrients, contained more than 60% of the thiamin, 40% of the vitamin B6, 60% and 70% of the calcium and magnesium, respectively, and 10% of the potassium daily recommended intake” (Agnew et. al.) This is only one example, but it says a lot about the nutrition people are NOT getting. As the research increases, so too should the evidence that wild plant foods, like those studied, offer an alternative to the poor diet and declining health in Native, and perhaps all, Americans.

Now, whose ready for some beaked hazelnut and prickly pear pie this Christmas ?!

Myself, My "Gayle-ma" and Denise our friend, enjoying Thanksgiving!

Article Citation:

"Nutrient Composition of Selected Traditional United States Northern Plains Native American Plant Foods." Journal of Food Composition and Analysis34.2 (2014): 136. Web.