Food Functionality of Popular and Commonly Consumed Indigenous Vegetables and Fruits from Bangladesh

M. M. Towhidul Islam, Arnab Talukder, Taibur Rahman, Jahid M. M. Islam, Shahdat Hossain, Hossain Uddin Shekhar

2Institute of Radiation and Polymer Technology, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh..

DOI: 10.4236/fns.2013.47095                

Abstract

Functional food can be either natural or processed. Food contains known biologically active compounds, which provides clinically proven and documented health benefit. So far, no database is available in Bangladesh regarding the functionality of the indigenous foods. As a primary step, this study had been conducted with an aim to identify and characterize functionality of the indigenous foods of Bangladesh. Eight fruits and vegetables, which are very popular for their taste, price and easy availability, have been selected for in vitro screening of their functionality. High levels of fat and sugar binding capacity were observed in Pineapple (500% and 270.891% respectively). High nuplli mortality rate was found in cytotoxicity test with Pomelo extract (100%), which also contained high level of vitamin C (155 mg/100g). Pomelo contained the highest level of antioxidant among all these foods (0.674 nMol/100μl/mg protein). Red amaranth contained highest amount of protein (4.31 g/100g). In stem amaranth, Iron level was highest (1855.67 mg/kg). Total phenolics content of Water spinach and Stem amaranth were found higher than the other samples (59.339 and 55.728 mg GAE/g respectively). All these experiments showed these vegetables and fruits have high health impacts and can be act as potential functional foods.

Keywords

Fruits; Vegetables; Indigenous Foods; Functional Foods; Anti-Oxidants; Health Benefits

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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