Determination of Mineral Constituents, Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Qualities of Cleome gynandra, Compared to Brassica oleracea and Beta vulgaris

Abstract

The study compared mineral, chemical and antioxidant qualities of Cleome gynandra, a wild leafy vegetable, with two widely consumed commercial vegetables, Brassica oleracea and Beta vulgaris. Mineral nutrients were quantified with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), phenolic compounds using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer (UHPLC-MS) and β-carotene and vitamin C using high performance liquid chromatography with a photodiode array detector (HPLC-PDA). The antioxidant potential was evaluated using 2,2–diphenyl−1–picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays. Cleome gynandra had highest concentrations of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, ascorbic acid, total phenolics, and flavonoids; whereas sodium, magnesium, manganese, copper and β-carotene were higher for B. vulgaris. The significantly higher antioxidant activity (P ≤ 0.05) exhibited by C. gynandra in comparison to the two commercial vegetables may be due to its significantly high levels of vitamin C and phenolic acids. These findings on the mineral, chemical and antioxidant properties of C. gynandra provide compelling scientific evidence of its potential in adding diversity to the diet and contributing toward the daily nutritional requirements of millions of people for food and nutritional security.

Mineral and Phytochemical Composition of Cleome Gynandra Methanolic Extract

“…Seeds are blended with oil and applied to the scalp to treat headache, Mixture of seed controls coughing, Seeds are also utilized by veterinarians to treat stomach pains, leaves and the plant have anti-ticks and fleas preventive properties. A decoction of roots is accounted for to have gentle febrifugal properties and anthelmintic properties [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. However, the efficacy of the spider plant and long-term safety is not well known.…”

“…The selenium requiring enzyme concentrations and their activity fall rapidly in the liver and blood at the early stages of selenium deficiency. The preclinical early stages of the progression of HIV infection is followed by a marked reduction of selenium in plasma and subclinical reduction in selenium, assumes increased importance in development of AIDS [11,12]. The other RNA viruses virulence such as hepatitis B and others involved with occurrence of hemolytic anaemia are enhanced similarly by a selenium reduction.…”

“…Flavonoids have also been reported to have strong antioxidant effect and could also have anti-inflammatory, anti-hepatotoxic (hepatoprotective), anticancer, antimicrobial and antiviral properties [18]. Flavonoids like Quercitrin which have strong antioxidant properties have been identified in previous studies involving Cleome gynandra [2,11]. Saponnins were highly present in Cleome gynandra according to chemical analysis.…”

Evaluation of nutritional value of Asystasia mysorensis and Sesamum angustifolia and their potential contribution to human health

“…Dietary polyphenols have been associated with lowered risks of chronic lifestyle diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases because they have the ability to neutralize free radicals through electron donation or hydrogen atom (Quinones, Miguel, & Aleixandre, 2013;Tsao, 2010;Zhou et al, 2016). The regular intake of dietary green leafy vegetables that have a high concentration of phenolic compounds has been reported to reduce the risk of lifestyle-related diseases (Moyo et al, 2018). Generally, plant extracts that contain a high concentration of polyphenols have been reported to exhibit high antioxidant activity (Uusiku et al, 2010).…”

“…Considerably, high iron content has also been reported for some wild, traditional leafy green vegetables (Schonfeldt & Pretorius, 2011). Iron plays a crucial role as an oxygen carrier from lungs to body tissues, as a transport medium for electrons within cells and an integral part of important enzyme systems such as cytochromes (Moyo et al, 2018). The mineral content found in African leafy vegetables has been reported to exceed the levels found in exotic vegetables such as cabbage (Maseko et al, 2017;Rahmdel et al, 2018).…”