Background: In 2015, The United Nations (UN) established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. In Latin America, the Pacific Alliance is integrated by Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico, which the scientific activity is focused on the scientific production from research and academic institutions. In this study, the main goal was to analyze the scientific production (2015–2019) in the Pacific Alliance related to “zero hunger” as SDG. The bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature was carried out using the Scopus database with search terms related to zero hunger and validated by Elsevier. We analyzed the annual production of original articles, productive journals, leading institutions, funding agencies, authors, and the most influential original. Results: Our results showed that the Pacific Alliance produced 2215 (81.0%) original articles, which is the fraction of non-excluded outputs with an annual growth rate of 12.62%, Mexico was the leading country, Nutrición Hospitalaria was the most active journal, and The Universidad Autónoma de Mexico was the leading institution and CONACYT as the leading funding institution. Conclusion: As conclusion, the scientific production of the Pacific Alliance is showing positive substantial changes, which reflects the main research themes related to zero hunger, such as food security, sustainable agriculture, and malnutrition to achieve this SDG by 2030.

Piper aduncum, commonly known as matico, is a plant that grows in the mountainous and coastal regions of Peru, and is studied for its antimicrobial properties and various ethnopharmacological uses. The main objective of this study was to determine the cytoprotective and antioxidant effects of the methanolic extract of Piper aduncum leaves in Mus musculus previously administered with sodium fluoride (NaF) using the Micronucleus test and the Comet assay. The extract was administrated orally in four different concentrations: 150, 300, 600, and 1200 mg/Kg for ten days. At the 11th day, a single dose of NaF was administrated via intraperitoneal at 20 mg/Kg. The genotoxicity study was performed with mice from the strain BALB/c, using the Micronucleus test on bone marrow and the Comet assay on peripheral blood according to OECD guidelines 474 and 489, respectively. The statistical analysis was performed by median analysis with ANOVA. Significant differences were found in Micronucleus frequency between the highest concentrations of Piper aduncum and NaF. The Comet assay showed significant reduction of NaF-induced damage on erythrocytes depending on the different concentrations of the extract which were evaluated in this study. It is concluded that the methanolic extract of P. aduncum leaves has cytoprotective and antioxidant activity against sodium fluoride.

Potato tocosh is a naturally processed potato for nutritional and curative purposes from traditional Peruvian medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the acute and sub-acute toxicity of tocosh flour (TF). For sub-acute toxicity, TF was administered orally to rats daily once a day for 28 days at doses of 1000 mg/kg body weight (BW). Animals were observed for general behaviors, mortality, body weight variations, and histological analysis. At the end of treatment, relative organ weights, histopathology, hematological and biochemical parameters were analyzed. For acute toxicity, TF was administered orally to mice at doses of 2000 and 5000 mg/kg BW at a single dose in both sexes. Body weight, mortality, and clinical signs were observed for 14 days after treatment. The results of acute toxicity showed that the median lethal dose (LD₅₀) value of TF is higher than 2000 g/kg BW but less than 5000 mg/Kg BW in mice. Death and toxicological symptoms were not found during the treatment. For sub-acute toxicity, we found that no-observed-adverse-effect levels (NOAEL) of TF in rats up to 1000 g/kg BW. There were statistically significant differences in body weight, and relative organ weight in the stomach and brain. No differences in hematological and biochemical parameters were observed when compared with the control group. For sub-acute toxicity, histopathological studies revealed minor abnormalities in liver and kidney tissues at doses of 5000 mg/Kg. Based on these results, TF is a traditional Peruvian medicine with high safety at up to 1000 mg/kg BW for 28 days in rats.