Different cooking styles enhance antioxidant properties and carotenoids of biofortified pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch) genotypes

Abstract

Biofortification is an important technique where the nutritional quality of food crops is enriched through the increase of nutrient content. Provitamin A deficiency is still a public health concern mainly in developing countries. Since beta-carotene is a vitamin A precursor, the increase of this compound in foods through biofortification is a manner to reach people under hidden hunger condition. This work aimed to evaluate the effect of different cooking styles on carotenoids content and antioxidant activity of two different genotypes of biofortified Cucurbita moschata. On the present study, biofortified pumpkins submitted to different cooking conditions were assessed for antioxidant activity by ABTS, DPPH, β-carotene/linoleic acid systems and have polyphenols and carotenoids content compared. The cooking style affected the antioxidant activity. Pumpkins from genotype 1 showed high levels of carotenoids, α-carotene and all-E-β-carotene compared to samples from genotype 2. There was an increase of all carotenoids in both cooked pumpkins, and steam cooking showed the highest retention percentages. Steam cooking presented a higher percentage of carotenoid retention. Pumpkin consumption in developing countries, especially in the Northeast Brazil may be promoted to combat vitamin A deficiency.

Comparison of physical, microstructural and antioxidative properties of pumpkin cubes cooked by conventional, vacuum cooking and sous vide methods

“…As already shown in previous studies, the cooking procedures significantly increased almost all the carotenoid contents compared to RAW. In agreement with previous findings, 34,35 steaming was more effective in releasing α ‐ and β ‐carotene than other cooking methods, whereas lutein, zeaxanthin, and γ ‐carotene increased more with vacuum cooking. During processing, carotenoids degradation, such as isomerization and oxidation, can occur.…”

Effect of cooking on the content of carotenoids and tocopherols in sweet corn

“…In our study, the content of tocopherol components from the highest to the lowest were β+γ-tocopherol, α-tocopherol and δ-tocopherol. These results were consistent with the previous studies about dent maize (Goffman & Boehme, 2001;Egesel, Wong, Lambert & Rocheford, 2003;Chander et al, 2008) and sweet corn (Feng et al, 2013) (Lessin, Catigani & Schwartz, 1997;Dewanto et al, 2002;Zhang & Hamauzu, 2004;Turkmen, Sari & Velioglu, 2005;Moreira, de Carvalho, Cardoso, Ortiz, Finco & de Carvalho, 2020). Lee, Choi, Jeong, Lee & Sung (2018) showed that cooked vegetables occasionally have higher fat-soluble vitamin content including α-tocopherol and β-carotene, than those of their fresh counterparts but it depends on the type of vegetables.…”

“…In our study cooking resulted in a significant increase in the concentration of total carotenoids, lutein+ zeaxanthin (42.26-168.48%), β-carotene (11.76-63.16%) for all hybrids, except ZP504su in which the βcarotene content decreased (22.73%). This increase has been attributed to higher extraction efficiency since the heat treatment can inactivate oxidative enzymes and denature the complex between carotenoid and protein that exists in plant cells (Moreira et al, 2020). Junpatiw et al (2013) studied the effects of steaming, boiling and frozen storage on carotenoid contents of various sweet corn cultivars and showed that the increase in carotenoids following thermal treatments was cultivardepended whereas loss of β-carotene after boiling occurred in one hybrid but not in the others.…”

Dietetic Food Products Based on Pumpkin Flour (Curcuma Moschata)

“…The same thing was reported by Purwanto et al [25], that the use of high power in a microwave oven produces less ginger oil extract, due to evaporation of volatile substances. Moreira IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1024/1/012046 7 et al, [26] revealed that antioxidant activity is also influenced by the content of antioxidants in raw materials and processing processes.…”