Phytochemical and Health‐Beneficial Progress of Turnip (Brassica rapa)

Abstract

Despite the advancement of medical science, diseases are part‐and‐parcel of human life. Plants have provided humans with medicines since time immemorial, and are still one of the primary sources for drug discovery. Brassica rapa L., commonly known as turnip, is one of the world's oldest cultivated vegetables. Besides being an important vegetable and source of oil, turnip is also used as a traditional medicine for the treatment of headaches, chest complaints, rheumatisms, oedemas, gonorrhoea, syphilis, and rabies. Glucosinolates and isothiocyanates (mainly 2‐phenylethyl, 4‐pentenyl, and 3‐butenyl derivatives) are the main constituents of turnip with diverse bioactivities, especially for the protective effect against cancers. Besides, flavonoids, phenolics, indoles and volatiles are also concomitant in this plant. Pharmacological investigation on turnip revealed the antitumor, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antiinflammatory, hepatoprotective, and nephroprotective effects. The anticancer property was found to be the most promising biological activity of turnip with 2‐phenylethyl isothiocyanate, phenylpropionitrile, brassicaphenanthrene A, 6‐paradol, and trans‐6‐shogaol as the major active constituents. Flavonoids and phenolics with high free radical scavenging activity should be corresponding to the antioxidant effects. Arvelexin, an indole derivative in turnip, was reported with various effects involving antiinflamatory, antihypertensive and hypolipidemic potency. In spite of many studies concerning either the chemical constituents or the biological activities of turnip, only a few cases disclosed the active ingredients responsible for diverse bioactivities. This review summarizes the research progress on the chemistry and health‐benefits of turnip over the past 20 years to provide a reference for the further investigation.

Brassica rapa Polysaccharides Ameliorate CCl4‐Induced Acute Liver Injury in Mice through Inhibiting Inflammatory Apoptotic Response and Oxidative Stress

“…B. rapa has been used as a medicine and food plant; this plant is widely distributed in Europe, Central Asia and the Near East, and is commonly cultivated in the regions of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Sichuan in China . B. rapa is also called (NIUMA), MANJING and YUANJEN in Tibet and used for the treatment of all kinds of poisons, including ‘Long’ illness and body weakness, as recorded in famous classical works of traditional Tibetan medicine, such as Foure‐Volume Medical Code and Jing Zhu Materia Medica.…”

Assessment of the physicochemical and sensorial features of pasteurized cantaloupe juice during storage

“…The higher intake of carotenoids is associated with protection from chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and carcinoma (Wang et al, 2011) [32] . Phenolic compounds include a significant benefit in keeping healthy (Paul et al, 2019) [23] . Cantaloupe honeydew contained 59.3-109.6 mg/100 of those component groups (INRA, 2009) [13] .…”

Evaluation of Italian and Spanish Accessions of Brassica rapa L.: Effect of Flowering Earliness on Fresh Yield and Biological Value

“…Brassica crops are considered to be important vegetables due to several evidences of their health-promoting effects, such as a reduction in the risk of chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases and several types of cancer [10][11][12][13][14][15]. The beneficial effects that are associated to B. rapa consumption have been linked to the presence of phenolics and GLSs in these plants and to many constituents having a strong antioxidant activity [7,[16][17][18].…”