This study evaluated the effect of different cooking methods including blanching, boiling, microwaving and steaming on the content of vitamins in vegetables. True retention was estimated using the yield expressed as a ratio of the weight of the cooked sample to the weight of the raw sample. The retention of vitamin C ranged from 0.0 to 91.1% for all cooked samples. Generally, higher retention of vitamin C was observed after microwaving with the lowest retention recorded after boiling. Cooked vegetables were occasionally higher contents of fat-soluble vitamins, including α-tocopherol and β-carotene, than that of their fresh counterparts, but it depends on the type of vegetables. Microwave cooking caused the greatest loss of vitamin K in crown daisy and mallow; in contrast, it caused the least loss of vitamin K in spinach and chard. Cooking may cause changes to the contents of vitamins, but it depends on vegetables and cooking processes.

Alcoholic liver diseases has been known to be one of the major health risks worldwide. The purpose of this study was aimed to demonstrate the relative protective effect of quercetin, quercetin‐3‐glucoside, and rutin on alcohol‐induced damage in hepatocytes. The hepatotoxicity, antioxidant enzymatic defense mechanisms, and pro‐inflammatory mediators were examined for evaluating the hepatoprotective effects of quercetins in hepG2 cells. The results revealed that quercetin and its glucoside derivatives significantly prevented ethanol‐induced hepatotoxicity by decreasing hepatic aminotransferase activities and inflammatory response in HepG2 cells. Moreover, the quercetins significantly induced detoxifying enzymes via the nuclear accumulation of the NF‐E2‐related factor 2 (Nrf2) and induction of antioxidant response element (ARE) gene. These hepatoprotective activities were observed to be more effective with quercetin aglycone than quercetin glucosides. From the above findings, the present study imply that quercetin aglycone may have a vital function in the therapeutic and preventive strategies of alcoholic liver diseases. Practical applications Quercetin is commonly present in fruits and vegetables as aglycone and glucoside‐derived forms. In the present study, quercetin and its glycosides was shown to alleviate oxidative stress, glutathione depletion, and pro‐inflammatory cytokines in alcohol‐induced HepG2 cells via the Nrf2/ARE antioxidant pathway. Moreover, quercetin aglycone had better protective effects against alcohol‐induced liver damage in vitro, compared to its glycosylated form. The present study proposed that quercetin aglycone may be a more efficient hepatoprotective agent than its glucoside derivatives such as rutin in the amelioration of alcohol‐induced liver diseases.

The present study investigated the relationship between the chemical composition and sensory quality of different mango (Mangifera indica L.) cultivars by multivariate statistical analysis. The results showed that the high hedonic rating of mangoes was due in part to its flavor profile such as fruity, pineapple, and coconut with sweetness. High hedonic liking and positive flavors of mangoes could be responsible for the volatile compounds including fruity esters, 1-octanol, (E,Z)-2,6-nonadienal, and γ-octalactone with high contents of sugars. On the other hand, turpentine-like and green flavors of mangoes are attributed to the relatively low hedonic liking of mangoes, which correlated with high contents of amino acids and terpenes. These findings demonstrated that interaction between individual chemical compounds within mangoes could be responsible for the specific sensory qualities of mango cultivars and provided insight into a paradigm for the selection and development of new and more desirable mango cultivars in the future.

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