Comprehensive Study of Traditional Plant Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea L.) Grown in Croatia in Terms of Nutritional and Bioactive Composition.

Danijela Šeremet,Ana Mandura Jarić,Klaudija Carović-Stanko,Ana Jurinjak Tušek,Marija Lovrić,Stela Jokić,Ana Butorac,Draženka Komes,Krunoslav Aladić,Marko Obranović,Aleksandra Vojvodić Cebin

doi:10.3390/foods11050658

Danijela Šeremet, Ana Mandura Jarić + Show 9 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11050658

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Abstract

In the present study, ground ivy was harvested from different natural habitats in Croatia and subjected to screening analysis for nutritional and bioactive composition. To achieve maximum recovery of phenolic compounds, different extraction techniques were investigated—heat-assisted (HAE), microwave-assisted (MAE) and subcritical water (SWE) extraction. Prepared extracts were analysed by spectrophotometric methods, LC-MS/MS and HPLC-PAD methodologies. Results regarding nutritive analyses, conducted using standard AOAC methods, showed the abundance of samples in terms of insoluble dietary fibre, protein, calcium and potassium, while rutin, chlorogenic, cryptochlorogenic, caffeic and rosmarinic acid were the most dominant phenolic compounds. In addition, LC-MS/MS analysis revealed the presence of apigenin and luteolin in glycosylated form. Maximum recovery of target phenolic compounds was achieved with MAE, while SWE led to the formation of new antioxidants, which is commonly known as neoformation. Moreover, efficient prediction of phenolic composition of prepared extracts was achieved using NIR spectroscopy combined with ANN modelling.

Highlights

Croatia is a country with a rich vascular flora because, despite its small area of 56,594 km2, it counts a total of 5536 (4228 species and 1108 subspecies) taxa
Characterization of macro- and microcomposition of ground ivy samples harvested from different natural habitats is presented in Tables 1 and 2
Nutritional and bioactive composition of ground ivy differed depending on the natural habitat, but all samples proved to be valuable sources of insoluble dietary fibre, proteins, calcium and potassium

Summary

Introduction

Croatia is a country with a rich vascular flora because, despite its small area of 56,594 km, it counts a total of 5536 (4228 species and 1108 subspecies) taxa. In terms of the number of taxa per square unit, Croatia ranks third in Europe, after Slovenia and Albania, in floristic richness [1,2]. This exceptional richness is the result of Croatia’s favourable position in four European biogeographical regions (the Alpine, the Continental, the Mediterranean and the Pannonian) and on the border between the Continental and the Mediterranean climatic zones. It was less affected by the Ice Ages and many species have survived as relicts. Subcritical water—hot water held at sufficient pressure to maintain the liquid state at a critical temperature between the boiling point of water and the critical point of water—is often used for the extraction of non-polar or organic compounds because the properties of water in its subcritical range correspond to those of organic solvents [10]

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