Dr Kudakwashe Chitindingu

Bio

My research mainly focuses on the discovery and rediscovery of plant species with phytochemicals that have potential benefit to the human health medicinally as well as nutritionally. One of the aims in my research is to utilise the diverse plant species that are found in Zimbabwe and Africa to help the communities around the plants to benefit from the plant resources in their environment. So far we have looked at neglected plants with potentially high nutritional value as well as high antioxidant and potential medicinal capacity. One such neglected plants is the from the Amaranth family. The plant seed can be used as a cereal while the leaves are being eaten as vegetables. The phytochemcals in the plants, that have health benefits, can also be isolated and characterised for their potential