From humble peanut to lifesaving legume

Cornell researchers, students and alumni are working alongside aid agencies in Haiti and Kenya to transform the humble peanut into a lifesaving legume. Packed with protein, fats and fiber, peanuts are nutritional powerhouses that have helped save the lives of malnourished children. But they can also harbor deadly aflatoxins, a byproduct of fungal infection which, when metabolized in the body, can cause liver cancer, disrupt immune function and induce protein deficiency syndromes. Most healthy people detoxify aflatoxins through their urine. But individuals who are malnourished or have Hepatitis B are especially susceptible to the adverse chronic effects of aflatoxins. Dan Brown, Ph.D. '81, associate professor of animal science, was contacted in 2006 by the nonprofit organization Meds and Food for Kids (MFK) as they were developing a ready-to-use peanut butter-based therapeutic food, Medika Mamba, in Haiti.