The baobab tree is one of the oldest living trees in the world, its average lifespan being 3000 years, and there are some baobab trees estimated to have been alive for the past 5000 years.
There are 9 varieties in the species, all of them native to Africa, including Madagascar.
The Baobab tree has the remarkable ability to withstand not only drought and other harsh weather conditions, but bush fires as well. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where the tree abounds, it is a well-known fact that fire never hurts the baobab tree.
The baobab is a Herculean tree, one of the largest in the world, both in terms of height and circumference; and one of the strongest and most resilient too. It is rightly nicknamed “The Tree of Life”. All parts of it are edible and used as everyday food in Africa.
Since 2008, baobab fruit pulp (the white stuff inside the pod) is listed as an ingredient on the European Union's Novel Food Catalogue.
Scientific studies reveal that this fruit has a wide diversity of bioactive compounds with beneficial effects on health. The baobab tree gained the attention of nutritionists due to its medical and pharmaceutical properties and nutritional values, which generated a myriad number of investigations regarding its macronutrients, micronutrients, amino acids, and fatty acids.
The pulp, leaves, seeds, and kernels of the baobab tree all contain high amounts of polyphenols and other valuable plant compounds.
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Nutritional profile |
Samples of Baobab fruit pulp analysed in August 2022 were found to contain, among others, the following nutritional compounds:
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Total phenolic compounds |
972 mg GAE/100 g |
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Fibre |
56.62 g/100 g |
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Vitamin C |
288.9 mg/100 g |
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Antioxidant activity |
1936 mmol TE/100 g |
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Vitamin K |
42.4 mg/g |
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Protein |
2.42 g/100 g |
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Carbohydrates |
28.1 g/100 g |
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Calcium |
3.80 mg/g |
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Highlights from scientific studies |
Below are a few highlights from scientific studies on various parts of the baobab tree –
2023, November: “The baobab fruit pulp is especially rich in vitamin C, pectin, fibers, and minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, iron, and copper. Additionally, the leaves contain high levels of calcium, while the seeds are considered a good source of protein and fat. Altogether, they contain a variety of polyphenols, fatty acids, and amino acids. The tree extracts possess potent antioxidant, cell-protective, and anti-inflammatory activities.”
2023, September: “Baobab (Adansonia digitata) fruit pulp has a high nutrient content and has been traditionally used for medicinal purposes (e.g., as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agent) that may help protect against chronic diseases.”
2023, August: “Hyperlipidemia is a well-known cardiovascular risk factor associated with the increased incidence of mortality worldwide... Baobab polyphenols interact with HMG-CoA reductase and pancreatic lipase to inhibit their substrate binding and block their activity.”
2023, May: “Several studies have revealed that baobab has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antimicrobial activities. The health benefits of baobab have been attributed to its bioactive compounds, namely phenols, flavonoids, proanthocyanins, tannins, catechins, and carotenoids. Baobab fruit is also an important source of vitamin C and micronutrients, including zinc, potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium, and protein, which may reduce nutritional deficiencies.”
2022, January: The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of baobab fruit on postprandial glycaemia in healthy adults and to measure its bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity. The study (NCT05140629) was conducted on 31 healthy subjects. The baobab extract revealed high total contents of phenols, proanthocyanins, and hydrolyzable tannins, as well as a strong capacity to scavenge superoxide anions and nitric oxide radicals and a high antioxidant activity. The study encouraged the use of this food component as a promising source of natural antioxidants and a hypoglycemic agent under glucose load acute conditions.
2009, March: “The results show that baobab pulp is particularly rich in vitamin C; consumption of 40g covers 84% to more than 100% of the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI). The leaves are particularly rich in calcium (307 to 2640 mg/100 g dw), and they are known to contain good quality proteins with a chemical score of 0.81. The whole seeds and the kernels have a relatively high lipid content, 11.6 to 33.3 g/100 g dw and 18.9 to 34.7 g/100 g dw, respectively. The pulp and leaves exhibit antioxidant properties with a higher activity in the pulp than in the leaves.”
Don’t throw the seeds or shell! All parts of the baobab tree have nutritional value..
A different study published in August 2022, analysing some of the phytochemical and phytonutrient compounds of the different parts of baobab pod, namely the shell, the seeds, the stringy things or fibrous filaments, and the white powdery stuff or pulp, made the following discoveries:
The baobab shell excelled in total dietary fiber (a whopping 85%), followed by fibrous filaments (79%).
The baobab shell showed the highest direct total antioxidant capacity (72 ± 0.7 and 525 ± 1.0 µmol eq. Trolox/g, respectively).
The baobab pulp was the richest in polyphenols, followed by shell, fibrous filaments, and seeds.
Quercetin predominated in shell (438.7 ± 2.5 µg/g); whereas epicatechin predominated in pulp (514 ± 5.7 µg/g), fibrous filaments (197.2 ± 0.1 µg/g), and seeds (120.1 ± 0.6 µg/g); followed by procyanidin B2 that accounted for 26-40% of total polyphenols in all the products.
N-acylethanolamines were abundant in seed oil (2408.7 ± 11.1 ng/g).
They concluded that baobab shell and fibrous filaments which are usually just thrown away, are valuable sources of polyphenols and antioxidant, and dietary fibers, which support their use as functional food ingredients.
My mom (who is a botanist by profession) says that the shell of the pod when burnt to ashes and mixed with oil or cream, relieves mastitis.
The seeds are used as a coffee substitute in Africa, and they even possess certain advantages over coffee. See overleaf excerpt from a paper in Science Direct’s Journal of Food Chemistry.
