Search Results (3)

Amaranth is a nutritionally valuable crop, as it contains phenolic acids and flavonoids, yielding diverse plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) like phytosterol, tocopherols, and carotenoids. This study explored the variations in the contents of seventeen polyphenolic compounds within the leaves of one hundred twenty Amaranthus accessions representing nine Amaranthus species. The investigation entailed the analysis of phenolic content across nine Amaranthus species, specifically A. hypochondriacus, A. cruentus, A. caudatus, A. tricolor, A. dubius, A. blitum, A. crispus, A. hybridus, and A. viridis, utilizing ultra performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection (UPLC-PDA). The results revealed significant differences in polyphenolic compounds among accessions in which rutin content was predominant in all Amaranthus species in both 2018 and 2019. Among the nine Amaranthus species, the rutin content ranged from 95.72 ± 199.17 μg g⁻¹ (A. dubius) to 1485.09 ± 679.51 μg g⁻¹ (A. viridis) in 2018 and from 821.59 ± 709.95 μg g⁻¹ (A. tricolor) to 3166.52 ± 1317.38 μg g⁻¹ (A. hypochondriacus) in 2019. Correlation analysis revealed, significant positive correlations between rutin and kaempferol-3-O-β-rutinoside (r = 0.93), benzoic acid and ferulic acid (r = 0.76), and benzoic acid and kaempferol-3-O-β-rutinoside (r = 0.76), whereas gallic acid showed consistently negative correlations with each of the 16 phenolic compounds. Wide variations were identified among accessions and between plants grown in the two years. The nine species and one hundred twenty Amaranthus accessions were clustered into six groups based on their seventeen phenolic compounds in each year. These findings contribute to expanding our understanding of the phytochemical traits of accessions within nine Amaranthus species, which serve as valuable resources for Amaranthus component breeding and functional material development. Full article

Malnutrition, especially micronutrient deficiency, is a widespread health challenge that predominantly affects young children, young ladies who are within the productive age, refugees, and older adults who reside in rural communities and informal settlements in underdeveloped and developing countries. Malnutrition is caused by consuming either too little or too much of one or more food nutrients. Additionally, monotonous dietary lifestyle, especially the over-reliance on staple foods, is identified among the top factors limiting many individuals’ intake of essential nutrients. Thus, enriching starchy and cereal-based staple foods including Ujeqe (steamed bread) with fruits and especially leafy vegetables is being suggested as a strategic medium for essential nutrient delivery to malnourished populations and especially the Ujeqe regular consumers. Amaranthus, called pigweed, has been rediscovered as a nutrient-dense multipurpose plant. The seed has been explored as a nutrient-enhancer in staple foods; however, the leaves are underutilized, especially in Ujeqe. This study aims to enhance the mineral content of Ujeqe. An integrated research approach was used where Amaranthus dubius was self-processed into leaf powder. Amaranthus leaf powder (ALP), and the ALP-supplemented wheat flour Ujeqe prototypes 0%, 2%, 4%, and 6% were investigated for their mineral composition. Sensory evaluations of enriched Ujeqe were conducted using 60 panelists on a five-point hedonic scale. Findings show that the moisture contents of the raw materials and the supplemented prototypes were low, indicating a good shelf life of the food ingredient before being used for Ujeqe development. Carbohydrates of raw materials ranged from 41.6–74.3%, fat ranged from 1.58–4.47%, ash ranged from 2.37–17.97%, and protein ranged from 11.96–31.56%. Additionally, fat, protein, and ash content had significant differences at (p < 0.05). The moisture content of enhanced Ujeqe was equally low, connoting keeping quality of the sample. The increase concentration of ALP led to an enriched Ujeqe especially in the ash and protein content. Similarly, calcium, copper, potassium, phosphorus, manganese, and iron content were significantly influenced at (p < 0.05); 2% ALP-supplemented Ujeqe was the most acceptable prototype as the control sample, 6% was the least preferred prototype. Although ALP dubius can enrich staple foods including (Ujeqe), this study declared that higher addition of ALP dubius leads to low consumer acceptability rate of the Ujeqe, which is not statistically significant. Amaranthus is an economical source of fiber, which was not investigated in the study. Therefore, further studies can explore the fiber content of the ALP-supplemented Ujeqe. Full article

This study reports on the assessment of the growth potential of five edible vegetables, which were grown in Cr(VI) spiked soils. The vegetable plants that were used in this study were Vigna angularis, Cicer arietinum, Spinacia oleracea, Amaranthus dubius Thell and Phaseolus vulgaris. Dried ground samples from roots, stems and leaves were analysed for various oxidation states of Cr. The daily intake of chromium, hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) methods were employed to assess the potential human health risks posed by these Cr oxidation states through vegetable consumption. The results showed that Vigna angularis was the only vegetable that germinated in highly concentrated Cr(VI) in the simulated soil (456 mg/kg). The highest total chromium (Ch_T) bioaccumulated in the roots was found in Phaseolus vulgaris at 0.8. The highest Ch_T translocation factor in the stem was that of Cicer arietinum and Vigna angularis at 0.30. The same plants translocated the highest Ch_T to the leaf at 0.7. A child or an adult consuming such contaminated Cicer arietinum vegetables were likely to take in between 508 and 785 mg/day of Ch_T, which are above the World Health Organisation guidelines of 220 and 340 mg/day, respectively. The highest HQ was found in Cicer arietinum at 8.7 and 13.4 for adults and children, respectively. The same species of plants also had high HI at 17.4 and 27.2 for adults and children, respectively. This indicated that consumers of the edible vegetables grown in Cr(VI) rich soils may be exposed to health risks, and the children were more likely to be vulnerable to these adverse effects than the adults. Full article