S24 - Session O3 - Role of seeds and seed sector in human health : « One Health » approach

Authors: Julia Zinsmeister *, Amandine Gautier, Sébastien Gardon, Szymon Swiezewski

Ferns ( Monilophytes ) are part of the traditional diet all over the world. Young fronds of fern leaves (fiddleheads) are consumed by people in several Asian countries, like east Russia, Japan, China, Oceania; and by native people in Australia and America. Fiddlehead ferns are a gourmet delicacy that is consumed only in few parts of Europe, like north France for example. Mostly, the fiddleheads are collected in wild, but there are also few commercial growers, for example in Canada. In Europe, there is a general distrust due to possible toxicity, particularly due to the content of ptaquilosides in Pteridium aquilimum fern. However, fiddleheads of P. aquilimum belongs to one of the most commonly edible ferns and there are evidences that proper cooking before consummation eliminate the negative health risk. Moreover, several reports give evidences on nutritional and health benefits of fiddleheads from edible fern species. Mostly the presence of antioxidants and fatty acids is apprised. In our work we evaluated number of European fern species for their nutritional potential. Also, the cytotoxicity of extracts from non-processed ferns was evaluated. Our results revealed that carotenoid and vitamin C content in fiddleheads is comparable to commonly consumed green leave vegetable. Nevertheless, most of the European fern species exhibit a remarkable antioxidant capacity accompanied with rich content of flavonoids. We proved previously reported beneficial content of essential fatty acids with favourable omega-6/omega-3 ratio, when compared to commonly eaten green leave vegetable. Moreover, a survey on bioactivity of ferns, revealed several European species to be a potential source of selective COX-1 inhibitors, which might be beneficial in prevention of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. This research was funded by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic (LTC17035 project), under the COST-Action CA15136, and by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic (QK21010207 project).