Potential of Traditionally Cooked Green Leafy Vegetables as Natural Sources for Supplementation of Eight Micronutrients in Vegetarian Diets
✍ Scribed by V.V. Agte; K.V. Tarwadi; S. Mengale; S.A. Chiplonkar
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 118 KB
- Volume
- 13
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0889-1575
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✦ Synopsis
The potential of 24 green leafy vegetables (GLV) in cooked form was assessed for the contents of eight micronutrients; bioavailability of iron, zinc and copper; and for proximate principles. The bioavailable densities of iron, zinc and copper (1.3$1.2, 1.1$0.5, 0.7$0.3 mg/1000 kcal) in individual GLV and GLV-based meals were higher than those in meals based on cereals or legumes. Average bioavailable iron density in particular, was 3.6 times higher (P(0.01) than the average value for composite cereal}legume-based meals indicating GLV as promising forti"cants of iron for vegetarians. Contents per 100 g cooked weight of beta-carotene (80}5920 g), ascorbic acid (2.2}58.2 mg), folic acid (35.6}185 g), ribo#avin (0.03}0.08 mg) and thiamin (0.04}0.46 mg) were found to show large variability among di!erent GLV but the average levels of beta-carotene and ascorbic acid were signi"cantly higher than the other food classes (P(0.05). The contents of the vitamins were compared in cereal}legume meals (12), cereal}fruit vegetable meals (16), and cereal}GLV meals (30) in another experiment. The results indicate a highly signi"cant and 8.7-13.1-fold rise in beta-carotene levels, and a 1.7}2.3-fold rise in the levels of folic acid and ribo#avin in GLV meals as compared to other meals indicating the potential for increasing these three vitamin levels using GLV.