Abstract
We report the hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidant activities, as well as the total phenol, flavonoid, tocochromanol (tocopherol and tocotrienol), and carotenoid contents in the edible portion of wild and cultivated varieties of chicory (Cichorium intybusL.) and in the basal rosette leaves of the wild species of poppy (Papaver rhoeasL.), known by natives as “paparina,” collected in the countryside of Salento (South Apulia, Italy). We analyzed (1) two cultivars of chicory, the “Catalogna” harvested in the area between S. Pietro Vernotico and Tuturano (Brindisi) and the “Otrantina” harvested in Otranto (Lecce); (2) two wild chicory ecotypes harvested in S. Pietro Vernotico (Brindisi) and Statte (Taranto), respectively; (3) the basal leaves of wild poppy harvested in Sternatia (Lecce). In all samples, our results showed that the hydrophilic antioxidant activity is, generally, higher than the lipophilic activity. Poppy leaves exhibited the highest hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidant activities and the highest concentration of total phenols and flavonoids. Tocopherols were detected only as traces. Among the extracted carotenoids, lutein andβ-carotene were the most abundant in all analyzed samples. Total carotenoid content was greater in wild than in cultivated plants.
Highlights
Diet is one of the external factors with the greatest impact on growth, physical and mental development, performance, and productivity of humans
It should be noticed that, due to a partial overlap of the chemicals extracted with methanol and acetone, both hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidant activities and their sum to calculate the total antioxidant activity may be slightly overrated; the comparison among the samples still gives a proper idea of their overall rank
Several assays have been described to measure the antioxidant capacity of fruits and vegetables being the results strongly dependent on the product analyzed and on the method used [28, 29]; comparison with other published data on chicory and wild poppy are hardly possible
Summary
Diet is one of the external factors with the greatest impact on growth, physical and mental development, performance, and productivity of humans. Proteins, lipids, and essential micronutrients, edible plants provide humans and animals a plethora of important phytochemicals. These molecules belong to various chemical classes, which are not synthesized by the human body, whose daily uptake with food, in sufficient doses, exerts effective biological activities, including that antioxidant [4,5,6,7,8]. When the ROS level exceeds the endogenous antioxidant capacity of the cell, an external supply of antioxidant molecules is required. This exogenous, nonenzymatic defence comes mainly from plant derived foods.
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