Abstract
Microgreens are gaining increasing interest as a potential functional food due to their relevant contents of micronutrients and bioactive compounds, including carotenoids. Nevertheless, the analysis of carotenoids is inherently difficult, due to their thermal and chemical susceptibility, as well as to their varying polarity. From this point of view, extraction is the most critical step, compared to chromatographic separation and detection. Thus, the reliability of data on carotenoids should be guaranteed by a constant focus on analytical issues, with appropriate adaptations to each sample matrix. In this research, a specific extraction procedure for the analysis of carotenoids in microgreens was developed. Solvent composition, extraction time, solvent/sample ratio, and repeated extractions were evaluated. The obtained protocol showed recovery of 97.2%, limits of quantitation of 5.2 μg·g−1 for lutein and 15.9 μg·g−1 for β-carotene, as well as intra-day mean repeatability of 5.7% and inter-day mean repeatability of 4.7%.
Highlights
Used for garnishing gourmet dishes, microgreens have been reconsidered over the last years as basic ingredients in several types of dishes [1], as well as for their potential in enhancing human diets due to relevant contents in micronutrients and phytochemicals [2,3,4,5]
As a matter of fact, several papers have evaluated the carotenoid contents in microgreens, reporting results varying in a wide range
Considering the differences in polarity of the carotenoids existing in foods and their consequent differing affinity towards polar and non-polar solvents [29], the choice of the extraction solvent should consider the type of food matrix and its typical carotenoid pattern
Summary
Used for garnishing gourmet dishes, microgreens have been reconsidered over the last years as basic ingredients in several types of dishes [1], as well as for their potential in enhancing human diets due to relevant contents in micronutrients and phytochemicals [2,3,4,5]. Carotenoids are one of the major classes of phytochemicals, and their importance in diet is related to their role as vitamin A precursors, and to their antioxidant anti-tumor activities and their role in gene function regulation, gap-junction communication, and hormone and immune modulation [11,12] They cannot be synthesized by animals and need to be consumed through diet [11]. As a matter of fact, several papers have evaluated the carotenoid contents in microgreens, reporting results varying in a wide range To this end, irrespective of absolute concentrations, green leaves show quite a constant qualitative carotenoid pattern, referred to as a chloroplast carotenoid pattern, with lutein (about 45%), β-carotene (25–30%), violaxanthin (10%), and neoxanthin (10%) as the most represented carotenoids. Lutein, the most represented xanthophyll, Foods 2020, 9, 459; doi:10.3390/foods9040459 www.mdpi.com/journal/foods
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