Open Food Labels. Search 816 ingredients⌘K

Review · Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Conflicts declared

Bamboo shoots: nutrition, storage, processing and anti-nutrients

Ma T, Mo W, Lv B, et al · Free full text

What it found

Bamboo shoots are rich in protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals and bioactive compounds, but they spoil quickly after harvest and contain anti-nutrients such as cyanogenic glycosides.

The paper reviews storage and processing methods that reduce these compounds.

What they found

Animal and lab studies

Animal study on obesity

In mice fed a high-fat diet for 12 weeks, bamboo shoot supplementation reduced body weight by 30.56% and reduced liver damage, insulin resistance and inflammation. It also increased beneficial gut bacteria and short-chain fatty acids.

Lab test on gut bacteria

In lab tests, bamboo shoot fiber fermented for 48 hours increased carbohydrate use and short-chain fatty acid content, and increased the abundance of Alistipes and Lactobacillus while decreasing Escherichia-Shigella, Enterococcus and Proteus.

Other findings

Nutritional composition

Bamboo shoots are rich in protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals and bioactive substances such as phytosterols and polyphenols, and are low in fat and cholesterol. They contain 14 to 27 kcal per 100 g.

Anti-nutrients in shoots

Fresh bamboo shoots contain cyanogenic glycosides, glucosinolates, phytates, oxalates, saponins and tannins. Cyanogenic substances are the most common anti-nutrients, ranging from 36.32 to 1717.85 mg per kg fresh weight.

Reducing cyanogenic compounds

Boiling bamboo shoots for 25 minutes eliminated more than 99% of cyanogenic glycosides. Fermentation, drying, canning, steaming, roasting, blanching and pickling are also used to reduce cyanide levels and remove bitter taste.

Storage and spoilage

After harvest, bamboo shoots lose moisture, harden through lignification, and are prone to microbial infection. Shelf-life is generally less than 3 days at room temperature and up to 7 days above 8 °C.

What the authors conclude

  • They say there is a need to combine indigenous knowledge with modern scientific knowledge to develop appropriate processing and preservation methods to reduce anti-nutrients in bamboo shoots.
  • They advise that further research should identify and select edible bamboo shoot varieties with low cyanogenic glycoside content.
  • They call for a more systematic biorefining approach to increase the value of bamboo shoot processing residue.

How it was done

Bamboo shoots are gaining importance worldwide as a food and dietary supplement, but fresh shoots harden quickly after harvest and contain cyanogenic glycosides, which limits how much people can eat.

The authors reviewed published research on the nutritional composition of fresh and stored bamboo shoots, the factors that affect their preservation, processing methods, and ways to use processing waste.

What it can’t tell you

  • The animal and lab results cannot show what happens in people.
  • The paper does not report human trials testing whether eating bamboo shoots lowers disease risk.
  • The review does not give a dose of bamboo shoots that people should eat for health benefits.

The paper

Title
A Review of the Nutritional Composition, Storage Challenges, Processing Technology and Widespread Use of Bamboo Shoots
Type
ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
Evidence
Animals and lab studies
Summarised from
Full text
Licence
CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
Cite
Ma T, Mo W, Lv B, et al (2024). A Review of the Nutritional Composition, Storage Challenges, Processing Technology and Widespread Use of Bamboo Shoots. Foods (Basel, Switzerland). doi:10.3390/foods13223539Free full textPubMed 39593955DOI

Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error