Ethnobotany and Human Nutrition: A Samoa case stud

Obesity is the cause of many major diseases which are no longer the exclusive domain of the developed, industrialised countries; developing nations are now affected as well. The inhabitants of the Independent State of Samoa, situated in the western part of the Samoan Islands in Polynesia, are experiencing a change in their eating habits. Their former diet, based on the consumption of local produce, has been replaced with unhealthy imported foods, rich in calories and carbohydrates. A group of ethnobotanists, led by Professor Ladislav Kokoška, from the Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague conducted field research in Samoa. Their aim was to identify lesser-known plant species that could have a positive effect on the health and nutrition of the Samoan population. Ethnobotany studies the relations between humans and plants, and this documentary presents some specific research questions that ethnobotany tries to answer. (Academia Film Olomouc)