With Covid-19, it is more important than ever to ensure our immune systems are fighting fit. Baobab fruit is exceptionally rich in Vitamin C, which is essential for a healthy immune system.
As baobab is a raw whole food, the Vitamin C can be more easily absorbed than manufactured supplements. And it has a naturally long shelf-life, which could come in handy if you can’t get hold of fresh fruit.
What is Baobab?
Baobab is the fruit of the African Baobab Tree (known as the “Tree of Life” and famous for being Rafiki’s tree in the Lion King). Baobab fruit pulp dries in its hard coconut-like shell while hanging on the branch producing a natural fruit powder with a delicious citrus flavour.
Baobab fruit powder is rich in Vitamin C (at 266 mg per 100 g, it contains 5 x more Vitamin C than an orange, which has 53 mg per 100 g (USDA)). It is also a rich source of prebiotic fibre, supporting the growth of beneficial probiotic bacteria in the gut. A healthy gut microbiome is also vital for a strong immune system.
Why Vitamin C? The human body cannot make or store Vitamin C so we must rely on food to get a sufficient supply. Vitamin C is essential for a healthy immune system, encouraging the production of white blood cells that fight disease, attaching themselves to and killing, invading microbes. Vitamin C levels quickly become depleted when fighting viruses and infections so during cold and flu season and now Covid-19, we need it in even greater supply.
Aduna’s story
Andrew Hunt, co-founder of Aduna, spent his early career working in the ad industry, successfully creating and launching brands for big companies that he didn’t truly believe in. A positive spirit at heart, he somehow found himself suffering from clinical depression. Thankfully for him, a random phone call from a family friend offered him the opportunity to up-sticks and volunteer in The Gambia, where he would work with small-scale growers of fruits and vegetables.
Instead of staying for the intended six weeks, he stayed for almost four years, and became rejuvenated and inspired by the vibrancy of Africa, and by the potential of business to make a positive impact on the lives of rural smallholder farmers. This is what he decided to spend the rest of his life doing.
Nick Salter, Aduna’s co-founder, had also spent his career working for large, multinational companies and shared Andrew’s passion for Africa, a continent that he had at one time travelled the entire length. On a business trip to Senegal he first tasted a drink made from the baobab fruit and, convinced of its untapped potential, decided that this was where his future lay.
Fast forward a few years and Nick was researching the market for this as-yet unknown fruit. He had heard about Andrew as someone who was also working on the idea and got in touch. The two future co-founders started brainstorming about how they could transform this obscure product into a globally-recognised superfruit that could provide a sustainable income to an estimated 10 million rural households.
After a few months of generating ideas, they realised that the opportunity was even greater than first thought. More than 25% of the world’s botanical species originate from Africa yet less than 1% find their way onto the shelves of health and beauty retailers.
What if there was a brand which could bring the benefits of these unique and remarkable natural products to consumers at the same time as making a direct contribution to the millions of small-scale producers who cultivate them? A brand which could express the positivity and vibrancy of Africa, for so long obscured from consumers by the world’s clichéd coverage of the continent.
And Aduna was born.
Health benefits of Baobab
- 100% natural, organic and vegan, baobab fruit powder is packed with natural goodness and is:
- Rich in Vitamin C (a single dose provides 26.6 mg and the NHS recommends healthy adults have 40 mg a day¹), supporting a strong immune system, energy release and healthy skin
- Rich in fibre (two thirds soluble, prebiotic fibre) supporting gut health
- As it is a natural source of these nutrients, it is more bioavailable than manufactured vitamin supplements, meaning our bodies can absorb the nutrients more easily, ensuring a greater uptake.
Baobab Fruit Powder has a delicious zingy sherbet flavour making it great for both adults and kids. Aduna Baobab Fruit Powder was the first superfood powder to win a prestigious UK Great Taste Award. Add 2 teaspoons (10 g) of baobab powder to your morning smoothie or juice or sprinkle on yoghurt, cereal, porridge or wherever your imagination takes you! As baobab is a powder it has a naturally long shelf-life so is ideal if you can’t get hold of fresh fruit.
Social impact
Baobab trees grow in 32 African countries. There is no such thing as a baobab plantation. Every tree is community owned and wild harvested. Baobab trees have adapted to survive in the harsh environment of the African Savannah and produce their highly nutritious fruit in the middle of the dry season, when life is at its toughest. The fruits are so abundant that the majority currently goes to waste. Selling surplus fruits create valuable income streams for communities.
A global market for baobab fruit could provide sustainable incomes for 10 million rural African households from the existing crop alone. Aduna works directly with communities in Upper East Ghana and Centre-Sud Burkina Faso to harvest and process its baobab fruit powder. To date, Aduna has created sustainable incomes for over 1,800 women, helping them provide basic needs like education, three meals a day and healthcare for their 11,000+ dependents.
Source: Aduna
