2007, Volume 13 No. 1

ARTICLE 7

Antioxidant Capacity and Phenolic Content of Selected Commercially Available Cruciferous Vegetables

Lee Wee Yee, Emmy Hainida Khairul Ikram, Abbe Maleyki Mhd Jalil & Amin Ismail
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty ofMedicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

ABSTRACT
Antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging activity and phenolic content of red cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata rubra), Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa pekinensis var cylindrica), green cabbage (Brassica oleracea var capitata), mustard cabbage (Brassica juncea var rugosa) and Chinese white cabbage (Brassica rapa var chinensis), grown in Malaysia, were evaluated. Red cabbage had the highest antioxidant activity and phenolic content compared to the other cruciferous vegetables studied (p < 0.05). The contributions of all cruciferous vegetables to the antioxidant activity was >79%. The radical scavenging activity was in the order of Chinese white cabbage > red cabbage > mustard cabbage > Chinese cabbage > green cabbage. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the means of scavenging activity observed between cabbage, Chinese cabbage and Chinese mustard. Phenolic content was significantly different (p < 0.05) among all the cruciferous vegetables studied, and was in the order of red cabbage > Chinese white cabbage > green cabbage > Chinese cabbage >mustard cabbage. The study indicated that red cabbage possessed the highest antioxidant capacity and phenolic compounds concentration among all the cruciferous vegetables studied.

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