Development of Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea L.) as Functional Food Based of Local Resource

Abstract

The development of functional food is one of the government's programs to improve food security in Indonesia. Increasing cases of degenerative diseases such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cancer have triggered people to look for functional food ingredients, especially local resource-based food sources in each region to explore the benefits and nutritional content of health. Arrowroot (Maranta arundinaceae L.) is an alternative crop-source of carbohydrate with enormous potential to be developed. Flour products from arrowroot plant have special features, which are easy to digest because the content of the glycemic index (IG) is low so it is very good for health. This plant is generally propagated by vegetation, so it has a narrow genetic diversity. Various efforts have been made to improve the genetic diversity of arrowroot plants, in order to obtain superior types of arrowroot plants with high productivity. This study aims to understand and explore the primacy of arrowroot plants from the benefits, origin, spread, multiplication, and utilization of plants by the community. Based on the results of this study we have not discovered any superior arrowroot plant model with high productivity and wide genetic diversity.