Fructan and free fructose content of common Australian vegetables and fruit

Fructans are not digested in the small intestines of humans. While many health benefits have been attributed to these carbohydrates, they can cause gastrointestinal symptoms in some individuals. We measured the total fructans in 60 vegetables and 43 fruits using the Megazyme fructan assay. Vegetables with the highest quantity of fructans included garlic, artichoke, shallots, leek bulb, and onions (range, 1.2-17.4 g/100 g fw). Fruits with low, but detectable, fructans included longon, white peach, persimmon, and melon (range, 0.21-0.46 g/100 g fw). The fructan assay was modified to provide an estimate of the average chain length (degree of polymerization) for high fructan vegetables. d-Fructose can also be malabsorbed in the small intestine of humans, so the d-fructose content in some foods was measured to supplement the current food tables. Research in this area will be facilitated through the availability of more comprehensive food composition data.     

Marine social–ecological responses to environmental change and the impacts of globalization

Marine social–ecological systems consist of interactive ecological and human social elements so that changes in ecological systems affect fishing‐dependent societies and vice versa. This study compares the responses of marine ecological and fishing‐dependent systems to environmental change and the impacts of globalization, using four case‐studies: NE Atlantic (Barents Sea), NW Atlantic (Newfoundland), SE Atlantic (Namibia) and the equatorial Atlantic (Ghana). Marine ecological systems cope with short‐time changes by altering migration and distribution patterns, changing species composition, and changing diets and growth rates; over the longer term, adaptive changes lead to increased turn‐over rates and changes in the structure and function of the system. Fishing communities cope with short‐term change through intensification and diversification of fishing, migration and ‘riding out the storm’. Over the longer term, adaptive changes in policy and fisheries governance can interact with social–ecological change to focus on new fisheries, economic diversification, re‐training, out‐migration and community closures. Marine social–ecological systems can ultimately possess rapid adaptive capacity in their ecological components, but reduced adaptive capacity in society. Maintaining the diversity of response capabilities on short and longer time scales, among both ecological and human fishing systems, should be a key policy objective. The challenge is to develop robust governance approaches for coupled marine social–ecological systems that can respond to short‐ and long‐term consequences of global change.