Amino Acids Profile of Leafy Vegetables Consumed in Western Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

Leafy vegetables are an important source of essential components of rural people diet in tropical Africa. This study aimed to characterize the free amino acids of five leafy vegetables consumed in Western Côte d 'Ivoire. The leaves of Abelmoschus esculentus, Celosia argentea, Ipomea batatas, Manihot esculenta, and Myrianthus arboreus were collected at maturity from cultivated farmlands located at Dabou (Abidjan District). These five leaves were washed and oven-dried at 60 °C for 3 days. The dried leaves were then ground and the powdered samples of each leaf were analysis for its amino acid contents using HPLC. The results showed that the amino acid contents of each leaf vegetable were significantly different (p ˂ 0.05). The proline which is a non-essential amino acid was found in all the leaves with contents varying from 563.6 ± 1.08 to 1562.9 ± 1.88 mg/100 g. For essential amino acids, leucine contents of the leaves ranged from 175.9 ± 0.56 to 9685.9 ± 5.14 mg/100 g. Among the five leafy vegetable, lysine was quantified in leaves of C. argentea (266.7 ± 0.89 mg/100 g), I. batatas (7225.9 ± 2.56 mg/100 g) and M. arboreus (182.4 ± 0.66 mg/100 g). Tryptophan could not be detected in C. argentea, M. esculenta and M. arboreus. M. esculenta recorded the highest content of valine (1639.1 ± 1.39 mg / 100 g) compared to C. argentea (1069.4 ± 1.2 mg / 100g). Methionine is the only sulfur amino acid detected in C. argentea (165.1 ± 0.61 mg / 100g). These results show that leafy vegetables consumed in Western Côte d'Ivoire are an important source of amino acids. Therefore, they can contribute to improving the nutritional quality of food and ensure food security.

Comparative Studies on the Nutritional Composition of Three Commonly Sold Leafy Vegetables in Lafia Modern Market, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

“…Plate 2 shows the fresh leafy spinach which offers a high amount of minerals, soluble dietary fiber, riboflavin, folate, niacin, and vitamins B6, C, and E. [3,8]. Spinach is also rich with iron; its use prevents from some of diseases like osteoporosis, anaemia results of iron deficiency [9,10]. In addition to its nutritional importance, spinach has a number of medicinal uses.…”

“…Spinach is used to treat gastrointestinal disorders, blood-generating therapies, children's growth stimulation, hunger stimulation, weariness, and convalescent support. Its application as an antioxidant and anticancer agent has also been proposed [9,11], and cancer preventative. Additionally, spinach may lessen the impairment of age-related vision due to cataracts and macular degeneration [12].…”