Move over, Med diet – plantains and cassava can be as healthy as tomatoes and olive oil, say researchers

Plantains, cassava and fermented banana drink should be added to global healthy eating guidelines alongside the olive oil, tomatoes and red wine of the Mediterranean diet, say researchers who found the traditional diet of people living in Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro region had a positive impact on the body’s immune system.Traditional foods enjoyed in rural villages also had a positive impact on markers of inflammation, the researchers found in a study published this month in the journal Nature Medicine.Dr Quirijn de Mast, one of the paper’s authors, said they were now in a race against time to record and study the potential benefits of African heritage diets before they disappear as people move to cities and adopt western-style eating habits.“Time is ticking because you see that these heritage diets are being replaced more and more by western diets,” he said. “We will lose so much interesting information [from which] we can learn – and not only for Africa.”In previous research, the team had...