Abstract

Giving priority to health-promoting components of plant origin foods, the present investigation is carried out to quantify the levels of bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity of common vegetables and spices available in Bangladesh. Total polyphenol, flavonoid, anthocyanin contents and antioxidant activity were investigated on seven vegetable i.e., cauliflower, cabbage, carrot, bitter gourd, cucumber, lemon, tomato and three spices i.e., onion, garlic and turmeric in this study. The highest total polyphenol content was found in bitter gourd 87.9±4.6 mg GAE/g of extract and the lowest was found in cabbage 18.7±0.19 mg GAE/g of extract. Total flavonoid content was varying from 28.99 to 133.6 mg QE/g of extract whereas cauliflower has the lowest and onion has the highest content. Anthocyanin the color compound of vegetable was found highest in turmeric and lowest in cauliflower. Consistently, antioxidant capacity was highest in lemon 192.7±0.97 μmol TE/g of extract and lowest in carrot 104.2±0.26 μmol TE/g of extract.The result showed a correlation between phenolic content and antioxidant activities of vegetables and spices. This study provides novel information about common vegetables and spices bioactive composition, which is essential for the understanding of their nutraceutical potential and future application in the food processing industry.

Keywords:

Anthocyanin, antioxidant capacity, flavonoid, polyphenol, spices, vegetables,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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The authors have no competing interests.