Locally known as ‘intoryi,’ the African eggplant is a tropical perennial plant closely related to the eggplant (aubergine) and widely cultivated for its use as food, medicinal purposes, and ornamental plant. The plant is grown as a vegetable for its edible fruits which are cooked and consumed raw.
Among other ways, it can be steamed, fried, grilled, pureed, or dried for use later.
Emmy Ntamanga, a nutrition consultant based in Kigali, says African Aubergines are an excellent source of fiber and B-complex vitamins that provide manganese, copper, potassium and iron.
He says beta-carotene in the African eggplant is extremely high and therefore important for healthy skin, the immune system and good eye health and vision.
African eggplants, he states, contain protein, potassium, ascorbic acid, iron , and calcium.
He states potassium is one of the body’s most essential minerals, helping to control fluid equilibrium, muscle contractions, and nerve signals.
What’s more, a high-potassium diet with African eggplant may help reduce blood pressure and water retention, protect against stroke, and prevent osteoporosis and kidney stones, the nutritionist says.
The fibre found in the African eggplant, says Ntamanga, increases and softens the weight and size of one’s stool.
“A bulky stool is easier to pass, decreasing one’s chance of constipation. If you have loose, watery stools, fibre may help to solidify the stool because it absorbs water and adds bulk to stool,” he says.
Dieudonne Bukaba, African Humanitarian Action (AHA) Rwanda’s Nutrition Program Coordinator, says African eggplant contains vitamins and minerals as it is a major source of vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B6, thiamine, niacin, magnesium , manganese, phosphorus, copper, fiber, folic acid, potassium, all of which play a key role in health.
It improves gastrointestinal and heart health because of its fibre, he says.
Bukaba says African aubergines are also a good source of natural antioxidants like manganese.
He further explains that having high levels of antioxidants in your body such as manganese helps to ensure that your organs are protected against cancer.
Moreover, he says, it decreases the risk of osteoporosis (a disease in which bones are fragile and brittle), since the iron and calcium present in African eggplants are essential to improving and maintaining overall bone health.
Ntamanga says if you don’t get enough iron in your diet can be harmful to your health.
In certain cases, he says, iron deficiency can lead to anaemia, which is characterized by a general feeling of exhaustion and weakness caused by not having sufficient enough red blood cells to carry oxygen across the body.
He says African eggplants are rich in naturally occurring chemicals called phytonutrients, believed to improve mental health.
This benefit is a result of increased blood flow across the body and throughout the brain.
“Phytonutrients help boost memory by stimulating your neural pathways to develop,” says Ntamanga.
