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NFS 39,2

Antioxidant properties of selected non-leafy vegetables

Amin Ismail, Ngee-Wen Tiong, Seok-Tyug Tan and Azrina Azlan
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the antioxidant properties (capacity and component) of four non-leafy vegetables. The correlation between the antioxidant capacity and its components of the studied vegetables was also assessed. Design/methodology/approach Winged beans, also known as four-angled bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), string bean (Vigna sinensis) and snow pea (Pisum sativum) were selected as samples from among the common non-leafy vegetables consumed by Malaysians. These fresh vegetables were lyophilised and ground and their ethanolic extracts were prepared for antioxidant capacity assays and total phenolic, -carotene and ascorbic acid contents. Findings Among the vegetables, string beans showed the highest antioxidant capacity compared to the other vegetables studied ( p < 0.05). The total phenolic, ascorbic acid and -carotene contents of snow peas were significantly higher ( p < 0.05) than the other vegetables. There was a significant positive correlation between scavenging activity and antioxidant components studied. On the other hand, a negative correlation was found between antioxidant activity and its components of the studied vegetables. Originality/value Previous reports have indicated that vegetables contain high levels of antioxidants. However, data on antioxidant capacity of these non-leafy vegetables are still lacking. This research paper shows the non-leafy vegetables studied is a promising source of antioxidants with good antioxidant capacity. Beside that, along with the studied antioxidant components, other compounds in these vegetables could also contribute to their antioxidant capacity. Keywords Vegetables, Malaysia Paper type Research paper

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Nutrition & Food Science Vol. 39 No. 2, 2009 pp. 176-180 # Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0034-6659 DOI 10.1108/00346650910943280

Introduction Previous studies have shown that fruits and vegetables contain significant levels of biologically active components such as vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids, polyphenols and other phytochemicals that impart health benefits beyond the basic nutrient. Epidemiological studies indicated that diets rich in fruit, vegetables and grains are associated with a low risk of several degenerative diseases (Agudo et al., 2007). Therefore, it is important to promote optimal consumption of fruits and vegetables due to their benefits derived from the presence of antioxidants (Clarke and Moran, 1995). Leafy vegetables have been reported to have high antioxidant properties (Amin et al., 2004; Amin et al., 2006; Lee et al., 2007). Some of leafy vegetables commonly consumed by the population of Malaysia are kale, swamp cabbage, spinach, Chinese mustard and cruciferous vegetables. Besides leafy vegetables, non-leafy vegetables namely winged beans, French beans, string beans and snow peas are also consumed by Malaysians. They are generally cooked before being consumed. However, some of them can be eaten raw, and are believed to be able to improve appetite and taste (Saidin, 2000). To date, there is still lacking of information on antioxidants of these vegetables. Therefore, the

present study was conducted to determine the antioxidant properties in non-leafy vegetables. Materials and methods Materials Four non-leafy vegetables, which included four-angled bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), string bean (Vigna sinensis) and snow pea (Pisum sativum) were purchased from Kompleks Pasar Borong, Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia. One kilogram of each vegetable was sampled using a non-probability convenient sampling. For representative purposes, four vegetable stalls were randomly identified and 250 g of vegetables were purchased from each stall. Preparation of vegetable extracts The extract was prepared according to the procedure of Velioglu et al. (1998). The ground sample was mixed with 70 per cent aqueous ethanol in the ratio of 1-25. The mixture was then shaken for 2 h at 50  C using an orbital shaker (Unimax 1010, Heidolph Instruments GmbH & Co. KG, Germany). Following 2 h, the extract was filtered through a Whatman No. 1 filter paper and the filtrate was kept frozen at 20  C prior to analysis. The extract obtained was used for the determination of antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content. Determination of antioxidant capacity Antioxidant activity of vegetable extracts and standards were measured according to the method described by Velioglu et al. (1998). The antioxidant activity was measured based on the bleaching of -carotene according to the following equation.   A0 At Antioxidant activity % 1 o 100 A0 Ao t where A0 and A0 are the absorbance values measured at the initial incubation time for  samples and control, respectively, while At and At are the absorbance values measured in the samples or standards and control at t 120 min. Scavenging effect of the vegetable extracts on DPPH radical was determined based on the method of Lai et al. (2001) with slight modifications. The capability of vegetable extract to scavenge DPPH radical was calculated using the following equation.   Absorbance of sample at 517 nm Scavenging effect % 1 100 Absorbance of control at 517 nm Determination of total phenolic, ascorbic acid and -carotene Total phenolic content was estimated as gallic acid equivalent using a Folin-Ciocalteau assay. Ascorbic acid and -carotene contents were estimated according to the method of Abdulnabi et al. (1997) and Amin and Cheah (2003), respectively. The analysis of ascorbic acid and -carotene were conducted using a reverse-phase HPLC. A Hewlett Packard HPLC series 1100, USA equipped with degasser, quarternary pump, autosampler and diode array detector was used. An Ultrasphere octadecysilyl Hypersil C18, 5 mm particle size, in a 250 mm length 4.0 mm I.D stainless steel column (HP


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1100, Hewlett Packard Inc., USA) was used to determine the vitamins. Two techniques were used to identify the peaks of ascorbic acid and -carotene on the chromatogram, which were by comparing the retention time and spiking test with that of L-ascorbic acid and trans--carotene respectively (Sigma Chemical Co., St Louis, MO, USA). Statistical analysis Results were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 12). Data were expressed as means standard deviation of triplicate determinations. Pearson correlation test was used to determine the correlation between the antioxidant capacity and antioxidant components. The value of P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results and discussion Total phenolic, ascorbic acid and -carotene contents Table I shows the total phenolic, ascorbic acid and -carotene contents of non-leafy vegetables. Snow pea had the highest total phenolic and -carotene contents, followed by string bean, winged bean and French bean. The highest ascorbic acid content was also found in snow pea, followed by French bean, string bean and winged bean. All the vegetables exhibited significant ( p < 0.05) differences in phenolic and ascorbic acid contents. Non-significant difference in -carotene content was observed among string bean, French bean and winged bean. This indicates that French bean had similar -carotene content as string bean and four-angled bean. Carotenoids, ascorbic acid, flavonoids and phenolic acids might be some of the components able to contribute to the high antioxidants in vegetables (Velioglu et al., 1998; Kurilich et al., 1999). However, it is important to note that these antioxidant components might act to different extent with regard to the antioxidant capacity of vegetables. The existence
Vegetable Winged bean French bean String bean Snow pea Antioxidant activity 74.98 72.16 85.24 55.08 5.56b 5.02b 1.46b 3.64a Scavenging activity 14.40 16.25 77.67 61.16 4.10a 4.69a 4.78c 10.42b

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Table I. Antioxidant capacity (%) of non-leafy vegetables

Note: Different superscript letters indicate significant difference at the level of p < 0.05 within the same row

Vegetables Winged bean French bean String bean Snow pea

Total phenolic (mg/100 g edible portion) 63.73 49.73 93.28 114.60 1.81b 6.66a 1.03c 1.38d

Ascorbic acid (mg/100 g edible portion) 1.20 0.00a 2.56 0.05b 1.98 0.01c 7.81 0.04d

-carotene (mg/100 g edible portion) 389.15 385.44 396.53 948.09 2.97a 5.24a 0.21a 0.83b

Table II. Total phenolic, ascorbic acid and -carotene contents of non-leafy vegetables

Note: Different superscript letters indicate significant difference at the level of p < 0.05 within the same row

of different antioxidant components could contribute to the variation in antioxidant properties of the studied vegetables. Antioxidant capacity Table II shows the antioxidant capacity of non-leafy vegetables. String bean was found to have the highest antioxidant activity among the studied non-leafy vegetables, followed by winged bean, French bean and snow pea. However, there was no significant difference in antioxidant activity among the vegetables. String bean had the highest (P < 0.05) scavenging activity compared to other vegetables. The scavenging activity of the vegetables was in a descending order of string bean > snow pea > winged bean % French bean. Although snow pea had the highest antioxidant components, the presence of other phytochemicals having antioxidant properties in ethanolic extract of string beans might have contributed to its highest antioxidant capacity. String bean has been reported as one of the vegetables rich in antioxidant capacity (Cao et al., 1996). Correlation between antioxidant capacity and components A moderate positive correlation (R 0.65, P < 0.05) was found between antioxidant capacity and its components in the studied vegetables. These results suggested that the studied antioxidant components might be one of the contributors to the antioxidant capacity of vegetables, but to a limited extent. Studies have reported the relationships between phenolic content and antioxidant capacity in vegetables (Velioglu et al., 1998; Gil et al., 2000). However, Kahkonen et al. (1999) found no correlation between antioxidant capacity and phenolic content in vegetables extracts. These findings suggested the possibility for the existence of other antioxidant components which contributed to the antioxidant capacity of vegetables. The present study indicated that snow pea possessed the highest total phenolic, ascorbic acid and -carotene contents among all the non-leafy vegetables studied. However, the consumption of these studied non-leafy vegetables would also be recommended due to the presence of antioxidant properties.
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