Nadia Maud - Rajman is a botanist on a mission. The Cambridge University researcher wants the UK to discover the wonders of a culture she says could transform the nation's health. That is why she is campaigning in favour of fava beans.
She claims that Vicia Faba has many special properties. It is rich in protein, fibre and iron, for example. More importantly, it contains chemicals that have been linked to a lasting improvement in the mood and emotions of people who consume it, Mohd-Radzman told the Observer.
For these reasons, Britain needs to recognize the value of a legume that has been neglected for too long, says the scientist who has just launched a campaign to promote the British pea. It will involve improving its varieties, publishing recipes for making more appetizing dishes and organizing lectures and demonstrations to outline the benefits of this unfairly undervalued crop.
"Fava beans could do so much good for people in this country if we could get them to eat it," she says. "And that is my mission. To make the country love the fava beans'.
Buckwheat was first cultivated in the Middle East but has been cultivated in Britain since the Iron Age. Around 740,000 tonnes are harvested each year from around 170,000 hectares of land in the UK.
"However, much of this crop is used for animal feed, and much of the rest is exported to Egypt, where it is used instead of chickpeas to make falafel," adds Mohd-Radzman, a researcher at Sainsbury's Laboratory, Cambridge.
Mohd-Radzman's campaign is not the only attempt to get Britons to consume more Vicia faba. Scientists from the University of Reading recently suggested that Britain should switch to eating self-made bread, as the end product is more sustainable and makes it easier to deliver key nutrients to people.
However, the ingredient levodopa, or L-dopa, is of particular interest to Mohd-Radzman, who also works at the Entrepreneurship Laboratory at King's College Cambridge. It is used in the clinical treatment of people with Parkinson's, and fava beans contain high levels of this compound.
"The bottom line is that L-dopa has been shown to be very effective in treating the condition known as anhedonia, which is essentially the inability to feel or experience pleasure.
This is why I think fava beans are important. In the UK today we have a serious problem with increasing numbers of young people experiencing mental health problems and helping them to eat properly and healthily will be crucial to tackling this problem. Fava beans will be our first line of attack."
Working with the William Templeton Foundation for Youth Mental Health, Mohd-Radzman focused on finding inexpensive and accessible ways to improve nutrition. "Fava beans is cheap and available and have known beneficial effects, so I promote it during talks and demonstrations." | BGNES
