European Journal of Experimental Biology Libre accès

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Vitamin C content of some processed green leafy vegetables

Lawal O. O., Essien N. C., Essien N. M. and Ochalla F

Vegetables serve as sources of vitamins and minerals in foods. Vitamin C is well documented as an antioxidant but can also be lost on processing being a water soluble vitamin. The effect of some drying methods on the vitamin C content of green leafy vegetables was investigated. Standard method of analysis was used for the determination. Telfairia occidentalis (pumpkin), Gnetum africanum (afang), Amaranthus hybridus (green) and Abelmoschus esculentus (okra) were analyzed fresh, sun-dried (cut and uncut) and indoor-dried (cut and uncut). The results in mg/100g of the fresh vegetables ranged from 64.33±0.02 in pumpkin to 4.33±0.01 in greens. The results of the vegetables when cut and sun-dried were 17.67±0.04, 1.44 ±0.01, 0.84 ± 0.01 and 4.27 ± 0.02 for pumpkin, afang, greens and okra respectively while the uncut and sun-dried vegetables were 36.00 ± 0.3, 2.17 ± 0.00, 1.26 ±0.01 and 28.67 ± 0.02. The values for the cut and indoor-dried vegetables ranged from 1.17 ± 0.01 to 24.67±0.02 for Amarantus hybridus and Telfairia occidentalis respectively while the uncut and indoor-dried ranged from 1.87 ± 0.02 to 52.33 ± 0.02 for the same vegetables. The results showed a significant (P<0.05) loss of vitamin C in both the cut and uncut states except for the uncut and indoor-dried pumpkin leaves which had a relatively low percentage loss, when compared to the fresh vegetables.