Determination of Mineral Constituents, Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Qualities of , Compared to and .

Abstract

The study compared mineral, chemical and antioxidant qualities of , a wild leafy vegetable, with two widely consumed commercial vegetables, and . Mineral nutrients were quantified with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), phenolic compounds using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer (UHPLC-MS) and β-carotene and vitamin C using high performance liquid chromatography with a photodiode array detector (HPLC-PDA). The antioxidant potential was evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays. had highest concentrations of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, ascorbic acid, total phenolics, and flavonoids; whereas sodium, magnesium, manganese, copper and β-carotene were higher for . The significantly higher antioxidant activity ( ≤ 0.05) exhibited by in comparison to the two commercial vegetables may be due to its significantly high levels of vitamin C and phenolic acids. These findings on the mineral, chemical and antioxidant properties of provide compelling scientific evidence of its potential in adding diversity to the diet and contributing toward the daily nutritional requirements of millions of people for food and nutritional security.