Vijaya Khader

Selected mineral content of common leafy vegetables consumed in India at different stages of maturity

Micromineral contents were estimated in commonly consumed green leafy vegetables: Koyyathotakura and Peddathotakura (varieties of Amaranthus species); Erragogu and Tellagogu (variety of Hibiscus species) Gangabayalakura and palak at three different stages of maturity. Varietal differences were also observed. The results of the study showed that as the plant matured from stage I (15 days) to stage II (30 days), iron and manganese contents increased whereas zinc and copper contents decreased as the plant matured. Varietal differences were also observed at different stages of maturity. The results also indicated that the consumption of green leafy vegetables at stage I and stage II potentially provides the greatest amount of a mineral.

Studies on protein quality of green gram (Phaseolus aureus)

Raw green gram contains trypsin inhibitor (5.6 × 10−3 units/0.1 g) while cooking destroyed the trypsin inhibitor in green gram. No destruction was observed in the case of lysine, methionine, cystine, threonine and tryptophan. Sulphur containing amino acids have been found to be the only limiting amino acids in green gram from studies on blood levels of amino acids and PER experiments. Raw green gram, when fed as a sole source of protein promoted an extremely low growth rate, (13.2 g/4 weeks) and PER (0.77) in rats. Cooking slightly improved the nutritive value of the gram, as indicated by increase in gain in body weight (24 g/4 weeks) as well as PER (1.22). The presence of inhibitors in green gram did not appear to affect some of the essential amino acids as observed from the blood amino acid levels.

Digestibility of carbohydrates of raw and cooked bengal gram (cicer arietinum), green gram (phaseolus aureus) and horse gram (dolichos biflorus)

Abstract In vitro digestion with pancreatin, preceded by pepsin, increased the rate of liberation of maltose from soaked Bengal gram, Green gram and Horse gram on blending first in water prior to cooking instead of cooking first before blending. However, the faecal bulk and caecal volume were not significantly different when the legumes were fed to rats after cooking as such, or cooking prior to, or after, blending. The results indicate that increasing the rate of digestion of carbohydrates may not be of value in reducing the flatulence caused by these legumes.