QUALITATIVE SCREENING OF PHYTOCHEMICAL AND COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DIETARY ANTIOXIDATIVE PROPERTIES OF THREE COMMONLY USED LEAFY VEGETABLES OF WEST BENGAL

Objective:The study was carried out to evaluate the phytochemical constituents of three very commonly used leafy vegetables of West Bengal namely Bacopa monnieri (Brahmi sak), Lagenaria siceraria (Lau sak) and Spinacia oleracea (Palong sak). Antioxidant potential of leaf and stem in raw and boiled forms was studied. Methods:Aqueous, methanolic and ethanolic extract of the three leafy vegetables were prepared. Qualitative detection of phytochemical constituents from the extracts was done. Phenol, Flavonoid, vitamin C, vitamin E, content and DPPH assay were done using standard protocols from methanolic extracts. Results:Leaf samples of the vegetables under consideration contain higher amount of phenol, flavonoid, vitamin C, vitamin E, than the stem samples. Considering raw and boiled condition, raw samples contain higher amount of flavonoid, vitamin C, vitamin E, from their boiled counterpart whereas boiled samples contain higher amount of phenols. The total antioxidant capacity was positively correlated with total phenolic content and flavonoid content. Conclusion:Cooking reduced the free radical scavenging activities with certainty to varying extent. Among the three leafy vegetables under consideration, Spinacia oleracea was richest in phenol, flavonoid and vitamin E content and was more active as a free radical scavenger with low IC50 radical scavenging activity