What is it about?
he study involved the determination of β-carotene and α-tocopherol content in selected fresh and dry vegetables (amaranthus, cowpea leaves, nightshade, slender leaf, pumpkin leaves and frying spider) using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) procedure. Fresh blanched vegetables contained high levels of β-carotene; 4000-9700µg/100g and α-tocopherol levels; 3000- 7360µg/100g (WW). The solar dried vegetables contained β- carotene levels ranging from 572 to 854µg g-1 dry weight (DW) and α-tocopherol levels ranging from 281 to 673µg g-1 (DW). Solar dried vegetables contained significantly lower (P<0.05) amounts of β-carotene and α-tocopherol which were moderately bioavailable when mixed in good proportion to meet Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of vitamins A and E; which are 750µg retinol equivalent/day and 8mg/day respectively. The results will provide nutritional information on the indigenous vegetables grown in Butula in Busia County
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Why is it important?
This study advocates for solar drying as a method used to dry vegetables since it has been shown in other studies to result to lower loses of β-carotene .
Perspectives
I hope this article will encourage people to grow, and encourage them topreserve vegetables.The article lead to interacting with farmers .
Prof Rachel Wanjiru Nambafu
Kenyatta University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Determination of β-carotene and α-tocopherol Content in Selected Fresh and Dry Vegetables in Butula in Busia County, Advances in Research, March 2021, Sciencedomain International,
DOI: 10.9734/air/2021/v22i130281.
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