Influence of the Home Cooking Practices on the Bioactive Components of Two Important Edible Herbs- Amaranthus viridis and Amaranthus tricolor.

Background: Antioxidants are substances that delays or inhibits the oxidation of a substrate by countering highly unstable entities (ROS and free radicals) that can cause cellular damage. Some natural source of antioxidants is green leafy vegetables like Amaranthus. Results of vegetable composition are usually determined on raw material, however for nutritional purposes most of them are cooked in different ways before consumption. In India, vegetables we consume are cooked by boiling in water, fried in oil or microwaved. Objectives: This paper mainly focuses on the comparative study of raw, boiled and fried forms of Amaranthus viridis and Amaranthus tricolor to ensure which form of vegetable intake provides proper amount of antioxidants to our body in order to boost the antioxidant profile. Methods: Total phenol content, flavonoid content, free radical scavenging activity, estimation of total inhibitor capability and estimation of Quercetin, Kaempferol and Rutin by HPTLC analysis were carried on raw, boiled and fried forms of Amaranthus viridis and Amaranthus tricolor. Results: The cooking processes lead significant changes in physical characteristics and chemical composition influencing the concentration and bioavailability of bioactive compounds of vegetables. The fried material is heated only on the surface so that the phenolic antioxidant losses are insignificant. Conclusion: The raw forms of green and fried form of red are more suitable for uptake. Also, green species contains more antioxidants than the red one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]