Study of Edible Plants: Effects of Boiling on Nutritional, Antioxidant, and Physicochemical Properties (original) (raw)

The consumption of vegetables in Mexico includes a wide variety of plants that grow naturally as weeds in the fields. The intake of these vegetables is very important in the Mexican diet because these plants supply an important input of nutrients and compounds such as fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Thus, the plants may be universally promoted as healthy. However, there is little information about these vegetables of popular consumption, especially in terms of the nutritional changes caused by boiling. To determine the influence of boiling on five plants of popular consumption in Mexico, the nutritional composition (proximal analysis, dietary fiber, and oxalates), antioxidant compounds (ascorbic acid, phenolics), antioxidant activity (measured by ABTS and DPPH assays), and physicochemical characteristics (water retention capacity, viscosity, color, and SEM) were evaluated. The boiling affected the nutritional composition of plants, mainly soluble compounds as carbohydra...