Antioxidant Ability of Some Common Indian Vegetables

Objective: The aim of this research work is to investigate antioxidant ability and analyse phytochemicals in some of the common Indian vegetables. Methodology: Different concentrations of the extracts were screened for estimating their DPPH scavenging ability by UV-spectrophotometry. Methanol was used as control while ascorbic acid was used as a standard antioxidant. IC50 and percentage inhibition were calculated. Results: Chenopodium album was found to show higher ability with IC50 at 82.93 ± 0.17 μg/ml while maximum % inhibition of 68.74 ± 0.17% was obtained at 100 μg/ml. The R2 values were greater than 0.9 indicating that the relationship between extract concentration and % inhibition was extremely strong. Qualitative biochemical analysis of both the extracts showed the presence of carbohydrates, reducing sugars, alkaloids, flavonoids, triterpenoids, steroids, tannin and phenolic compound. Conclusions: The in vitro study showed that Portulaca oleracea and Chenopodium album proved to be good scavengers of free radicals like DPPH.

Key message: The two commonly eaten vegetables has shown potent antioxidant activity, thus it could be suggested for use in oxidative stress related diseases and can be eaten normally for prevention. Thus this article justifies the importance of vegetables and their use in traditional medicines for curing various diseases. Literature survey has shown that DPPH scavenging potential in methanolic extract of whole plant of Chenopodium album was not found to be reported in earlier studies.