Amino acid profile, vitamin C and beta-carotene content in cassava leaves obtained from greenhouse and local market in Germany

Publikations-Art

Poster

Autoren

Latif, S; Müller, J

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Veröffentlicht in

Book of Abstracts

Seite (von - bis)

CHC-P-164

Tagungsname

EUROFOODCHEM XVIII

Tagungsort

Madrid, Spain

Tagungsdatum

13 - 16 October, 2015

Schlagworte

Amino acid profile, cassava, Proteingehalt, Vitamins

Cassava ranks Cassava (Manihot esculenta, Crantz) is widely grown in tropical and subtropical countries with an estimated production of 277 million tons. Cassava is mainly known for its roots which is a staple food for nearly one billion people. Cassava leaves, a rich source of protein, vitamins and essential amino acids are also consumed in some cassava growing countries and the developed countries where it is exported after processing. Various processes including washing, pounding, grinding, cooking and drying are used to eliminate the toxic cyanogenic potential of cassava leaves which might have a negative effect on the essential nutrients. In the present study, the processed and fresh cassava leaves were analyzed to evaluate the effect of processing on amino acid profile, vitamin C and beta-carotene. Fresh cassava leaves from the greenhouse (CLG) and the processed cassava leaves imported from Vietnam (CLV) and Cameroon (CLC) from the local market in Germany were obtained. Significantly lower dry matter content was observed in CLV (12.9%) and CLC (12.5%) as compared with that of CLG (22.9%). Highest protein content was observed in CLG (44.1% dry weight basis, DWB) followed by CLV (40.4% DWB) and CLC (32.2% DWB). No major variation was observed in the amino acid profile among all the three cassava leaves samples. Surprisingly, high content of vitamin C was observed in CLV (627.2 mg/100g sample DWB) followed by CLG (613.0 mg/100g sample DWB) and CLC (25.6 mg/100g sample DWB). Similarly, highest content of beta-carotene was present in CLV (92.1 mg/100g sample DWB) followed by CLG (77.1 mg/100g sample DWB) and CLC (40.2 mg/100g sample DWB). Cassava leaves samples from Vietnam found to be a good source of protein, amino acids, vitamin C and beta-carotene as compared with the CLC. The vitamin C and beta-carotene may be negatively affected during processing of CLC. Therefore, it is recommended to focus on the nutritional parameters while processing cassava leaves. Further studies should be made to compare the nutritional parameter of the processed and non-processed cassava leaves from the same origin.