Nutrient composition, phenolic content and free radical scavenging activity of some uncommon vegetables of Pakistan

Vegetables play a vital role in the prevention of human disease and in the improvement of general health as these contain vitamins, amino acids, fiber, antioxidants and minerals. In the present study, some less familiar vegetables of Pakistan namely chickpea (leaves), chungah (shoots), drumstick tree (inflorescences), radish (fruit pods), mountain ebony (flower buds), mustard (leaves), purslane (leaves) and white goosefoot (leaves and shoots) were evaluated for proximate composition, mineral content, phenolic content and free radical scavenging activity. The protein, fat, fiber, carbohydrate and ash contents of the selected vegetables were in the range of 2.9 to 6.6%, 0.2 to 2.5%, 2.4 to 8.6%, 9.7 to 20.1% and 1.0 to 2.3%, respectively. The concentration of vitamin C ranged between 32.6 to 120.1 mg/100 g. The phosphorus, calcium, iron, zinc, manganese, magnesium and copper were 190 to 3400, 103 to 987, 19 to 93, 12 to 47, 9 to 121, 299 to 1635 and non detectable level to 42 mg/kg, respectively. The amount of total phenolic content varied from 55.3 to 221.0 mg/g in the dry methanolic extracts of the studied plants. The EC(50) values were below 1400 μg/ml, indicating that all the studied vegetables have good scavenging effect on DPPH radical.