Antioxidant and Nutritional Activity Studies of Green Leafy Vegetables

An investigation was carried out with nine green leafy vegetables (GLV’s) with their popular varieties most commonly grown in India to determine their biochemical composition. Among leafy vegetables ascorbic acid was found maximum in Chenopod cultivar Bathua Local (60.6 mg/100 g fw.) followed by Pusa Bathua -1 (23.0 mg/100g fw.) and spinach cultivar PS-1 (51 mg/100 g fw.). Significantly high level of total carotenoids was recorded in amaranth cultivar Pusa Lal Chaulai (69.4 mg/100 g fw.) & Pusa Kiran (59.0 mg/100g fw.), however Basella cultivar Local Red and Local Green recorded low value of total carotenoids (10.2 mg/100 g). High value of CUPRAC was recorded in chenopod cultivar Bathua Local (32.7 μ moltrolax/g) and Pusa Bathua-1 (23.0 μ moltrolax/g), while FRAP was maximum in Swiss Chard Local (4.2 μ mol ascorbic acid/ g f.w). Poly phenols content of GLV’s ranged from 1134 μg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/ g of amaranth cultivar Pusa LalChaulai to 154 μg GAE/ g in case of palak cultivar Pusa Bharati. On overall basis the antioxidant capacity of leafy vegetables were in order of amaranth > chenopod > spinach > palak > fenugreek > sarson sag.