Cook J A, VanderJagt D J, Dasgupta A, Mounkaila G, Glew R S, Blackwell W, Glew R H
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque 87131-5221, USA.
Life Sci. 1998;63(2):105-10. doi: 10.1016/s0024-3205(98)00245-8.
Although wild edible plants of the western Sahel and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa are consumed to some extent at all times of the year, greater amounts are consumed when cereal harvests are insufficient to support the populations living in these areas. The purpose of this study was to use a recently reported Trolox-based assay to measure the total antioxidant capacity of aqueous extracts of 17 plants that we gathered from southern Niger. The antioxidant contents of the aqueous extracts were compared to those of spinach and potato. Of the 17 plants, 11 had a greater antioxidant content than spinach and 14 had a greater antioxidant content than potato. The leaves of Tapinanthus globiferus had the greatest antioxidant content, and the fruit of Parinari macrophylla had the lowest. In general, leaves contained more antioxidants than either fruits or seeds. The total antioxidant capacity of the aqueous extracts was relatively high, indicating that the wild plants of the western Sahel may contain substantial amounts of water-soluble flavonoid glycosides, which are potent antioxidants and have been shown to have anticancer properties.
尽管萨赫勒地区西部及撒哈拉以南非洲其他地区的野生可食用植物在一年中的任何时候都有一定程度的食用，但在谷物收成不足以养活这些地区居民时，食用量会更大。本研究的目的是使用最近报道的基于Trolox的测定法，来测量我们从尼日尔南部采集的17种植物水提取物的总抗氧化能力。将水提取物的抗氧化成分与菠菜和土豆的进行比较。在这17种植物中，11种的抗氧化成分含量高于菠菜，14种的抗氧化成分含量高于土豆。Globiferus榕属植物的叶子抗氧化成分含量最高，大叶帕里木的果实抗氧化成分含量最低。一般来说，叶子含有的抗氧化剂比果实或种子更多。水提取物的总抗氧化能力相对较高，这表明萨赫勒地区西部的野生植物可能含有大量水溶性黄酮苷，它们是强效抗氧化剂，并且已被证明具有抗癌特性。
