Abstract
Celery (Appium graveolens L.) and parsley (Petroselinum crispum (Mill.) Fuss) are herbs utilized in the everyday diet as spices and culinary flavorings, often used in the chemical and medicinal industries. Despite the knowing benefits of different plants from the Apiaceae family, their chemical composition is closely associated with various extrinsic factors. Environmental loading with trace elements (TEs) can modify a plant’s metabolic pathways, change bioactive compounds production, cause plant pollution, and consequently provoke human health issues. Therefore, we established this research aiming to unravel the linkage between TEs accumulation and phenolic status in celery and parsley. Higher As, Cd, and Ni levels were observed in celery, which was followed by greater DPPH∙ radical scavenging activity and higher coumarins content. Contrary, parsley accumulated chromium to a greater extent, was richer in flavonoids, apigenin, and its glucosides. No significant difference between species was found in total phenolic contents, where ferulic and chlorogenic acid dominated in both species. A direct relationship between TEs and selected secondary metabolites was proven by the standardized major axis model. Besides abundant bioactive compounds, analyzed plant species showed a moderate hazard index in the children population, since the hazard index was higher than 1. Therefore, future perspectives should be turned towards the production of genotypes with a lower potential for toxic elements accumulation, so the health benefits of plant food will be more prominent.
Highlights
In an era of rapid development of a diverse range of acute and chronic diseases, increased health awareness associated with daily immunity-boosting with fresh and healthy superfoods is imperative
Future perspectives should be turned towards the production of genotypes with a lower potential for toxic elements accumulation, so the health benefits of plant food will be more prominent
Plants 2021, 10, 1785 limit for Cd and Cr, while the average of the As content was below the maximum allowed values in parsley, but not in celery (Figure 1). When it comes to the Cd content in celery, all analyzed samples exceed the limit of 0.2 mg/kg, while the average reached 0.72 mg/kg
Summary
In an era of rapid development of a diverse range of acute and chronic diseases, increased health awareness associated with daily immunity-boosting with fresh and healthy superfoods is imperative. Environmental loadings with trace elements (TEs) have become severely increased in recent years and were mostly provoked by intensive anthropogenic activities [12] This is especially pronounced when it comes to toxic elements, which have gained unprecedented importance on a global scale, considering the fact that TEs can be accumulated in plants, used in the human diet, and can endanger food security and human health. Our previous study confirmed that celery has an even higher potential to accumulate various toxic/potentially toxic elements (TEs) than parsley, especially in Cdpolluted soil [16] Overall, both species can serve as sources for metal removal, while at the same time possess plenty of nutritive values beneficial for human health
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