Plant Metabolites and Nutritional Quality of Vegetables

Abstract

Vegetables are an important part of the human diet and a major source of biologically active substances such as vitamins, dietary fiber, antioxidants, and cholesterol-lowering compounds. Despite a large amount of information on this topic, the nutritional quality of vegetables has not been defined. Historically, the value of many plant nutrients and health-promoting compounds was discovered by trial and error. By the turn of the century, the application of chromatography, mass spectrometry, infrared spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance allowed quantitative and qualitative measurements of a large number of plant metabolites. Approximately 50000 metabolites have been elucidated in plants, and it is predicted that the final number will exceed 200000. Most of them have unknown function. Metabolites such as carbohydrates, organic and amino acids, vitamins, hormones, flavonoids, phenolics, and glucosinolates are essential for plant growth, development, stress adaptation, and defense. Besides the importance for the plant itself, such metabolites determine the nutritional quality of food, color, taste, smell, antioxidative, anticarcinogenic, antihypertension, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, immunostimulating, and cholesterol-lowering properties. This review is focused on major plant metabolites that characterize the nutritional quality of vegetables, and methods of their analysis.

Seasonal Variation in Contents of Sugars in Different Parts of Broccoli

“…Furthermore, both glucose and fructose are glycoxidating agents and are capable of producing reactive compounds (Semchyshyn et al, 2014). The accumulation and concentration of sugars is dependent on several factors such as genotypes, type of tissues, developmental stages, and growing seasons (Hodges et al, 2006;Hounsome et al, 2008;Lee et al, 1970;Nunes, 2008;VandenLangenberg et al, 2012).…”

Prospects for using Sprinkler Irrigation for Carrots (Daucus carota L.) in the Foothills of South-east Kazakhstan

“…Numerous studies have reported the importance of plant foods containing nearly all nutrient compounds, vital for human nutrition as well as a large number of health-promoting chemical substances 1 . For instance, amino acids, vitamins C and B, and some plant secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, phenoloc acids, lignans, carotenoids, tocopherols and tocotrienols are essential for human body.…”

Avaliação das condições do tratamento biológico de hidrolisados hemicelulósicos visando melhorar a produção de etanol por<i> Scheffersomyces (Pichia) stipitis</i>

“…Os ácidos fenólicos, os flavonóides e os taninos são considerados as principais classes destes compostos, além de serem apontados como os fenólicos mais abundantes em cereais e leguminosas (SOLOMONS, 2001;HOUNSOME et al, 2008).…”

“…Os ácidos fenólicos são estruturas envolvidas na formação da lignina, fato que explica sua abundância em sementes e cascas de frutas, bem como em caules e folhas de vegetais (HOUNSOME et al, 2008;SOUSA, 2009). Dentro desta classe estão os ácidos hidroxicinâmicos (X a ) e hidroxibenzóicos (X b ), e ainda alguns aldeídos análogos (X c ), como a vanilina e o siringaldeído.…”

“…Dentro desta classe estão os ácidos hidroxicinâmicos (X a ) e hidroxibenzóicos (X b ), e ainda alguns aldeídos análogos (X c ), como a vanilina e o siringaldeído. Os ácidos hidroxibenzóicos são comumente encontrados em plantas superiores e possuem estrutura C 6 -C 1 , incluindo os ácidos gálico, vanílico e siríngico, enquanto que os ácidos hidroxicinâmicos são compostos aromáticos ligados a uma cadeia com três átomos de carbono (C 6 -C 3 ), destacando-se os ácidos p-cumárico, ferúlico, caféico e sináptico (HOUNSOME et al, 2008). …”