Our analytical study on traditional indigenous foods items which are available and consumed by few tribal families in the Banswara district, have potential to provide rich nutrition to the community. Many micronutrient rich plant foods (different food groups) which were part of their daily dietary intake, but now at the verge of extinction. There are a good number of food items which are still preferred and consumed which are rich in sodium, potassium, iron, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin-B and vitamin C.

The food items which were analyzed for their nutrition content as part of the study were also found to be good sources of one or more micronutrients.Some of these indigenous foods also reportedly had medicinal properties which were known to the local community based on practical knowledge and traditional wisdom. Based on some of our findings and evidence from previous literature, there is likely a scientific basis to these beliefs. Supporting and advocating  for the consumption of indigenous plants for their nutritive values and medicinal properties through knowledge and behavior change communication and policy interventions could present opportunities for improving community health outcomes.While people know about the rich diversity of the flora in the district of Banswara and isolated efforts by individuals and groups are underway to conserve the natural biodiversity for food and livelihood security, documentation of nutrient content of May such food items are rare. In this direction, our findings are significant in a situation of high rates of chronic malnourishment in all population groups of Bhil tribe in the area which compromises the health and well-being of women and children and the community at large.

The enormous natural diversity present in the indigenous foods with the potential to contribute to nutritionally complete dietary patterns, the existence of trans-generational knowledge of their uses within the community and the ease of assimilation of these foods into the routine diets of the tribal can be leveraged to address malnutrition. Listing and identification of more underutilized food items and incorporating testing of their nutritive value and developing education materials at a community level would be important for reviving place in their diets. In this context of promoting nutrition kitchen garden could be used as effective strategies for consumption of indigenous foods for improved nutrition.

Our study is an important step towards documenting the nutrient rich indigenous foods in this tribal community which could be used for quantification of nutrient intake in this community. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has looked at the dietary and nutritional aspects of the indigenous foods in the tribal of Banswara district. We would also like to highlight that there are many more such indigenous food items yet to be identified in adjoining districts offering immense scope of further study in this geographical area with such tremendous food and plant biodiversity and help community in fighting malnutrition.