Nutritional composition, antioxidant activity, minerals and anti-nutritional factors of indigenous leafy vegetables of eastern India

Abstract

The underutilized leafy vegetables indigenous to eastern India constitute an integral part of food and nutrition of local population. In the current study, 22 indigenous species of leafy vegetables eaten by local people of eastern India were characterized by their nutritional and antioxidant profile. Most of these leafy vegetables showed great nutritional potential being rich in carotenoids (11.76±2.601 to 76.24±4.80 mg/100 g), ascorbic acid (3.01±0.241 to 156.92±4.37 mg/100 g), crude fiber (0.74±0.019 to 4.98±0.06%) and many essential minerals such as calcium (52.71±1.8 to 1114.2±9.1 mg/100 g), magnesium (28.87±4.70 to 566.0±4.1 mg/100 g), potassium (151.4±9.2 to 1465.38±4.0 mg/100 g), phosphorus (5.64±0.8 to 174.4±1.9 mg/100 g), iron (1.46±0.5 to 52.8±1.3 mg/100 g), zinc (0.17±0.2 to 5.91±0.4 mg/100 g), copper (0.11±0.06 to 1.4±0.1 mg/100 g) and manganese (0.35±0.2 to 80.7±2.0 mg/100 g). These indigenous leafy vegetables were also rich in antioxidants showing good DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity (17.43±1.673 to 1978.00±8.75 mg ascorbic acid equivalent antioxidant capacity (AEAC)/100 g), ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) (981.19±2.11to 5200.85±8.31 mg AEAC/100 g) and total phenol content (0.40±0.016 to 6.92±0.02 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g). Moreover, anti-nutritional compounds (oxalate, nitrate and tannins) in most of these indigenous leafy vegetables were found lower as compared to other commonly consumed leafy vegetables. Thus including
these nutrients rich traditional leafy vegetables in our daily diet can be an excellent food-based approach for ensuring nutritional security.