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. 2021 Nov 24;10(12):2911.
doi: 10.3390/foods10122911.

New Vegetable Brassica Foods: A Promising Source of Bioactive Compounds

Pilar Soengas  1 , Pablo Velasco  1 , Juan Carlos Fernández  1 , María Elena Cartea  1
Affiliations

New Vegetable Brassica Foods: A Promising Source of Bioactive Compounds

Pilar Soengas et al. Foods. .

Abstract

Brassica rapa is grown in northwestern Spain to obtain turnip greens. The tops of the same plants (flower stems with buds) are cut and sell as turnip tops, increasing the value of the crop. This practice could be extended to other brassicas. The objectives of this work are to study the phytochemical potential of tops of coles (Brassica oleracea) and leaf rape (Brassica napus) compared to turnip tops and to compare tops of different coles (cabbage, kale, tronchuda cabbage), which differ in their morphology and use. We evaluated the content of glucosinolates and phenolic compounds and the antioxidant capacity in leaves and tops of the three species. We found that tops had higher amount of glucosinolates than leaves. Phenolic content and antioxidant capacity followed the opposite trend. Therefore, consumption of leaves and tops are complementary, since both type of organs are enriched with different types of compound. Local varieties of kale, curly kale, cabbage and curly leave cabbage are interesting because of their GSLs and phenolic content and antioxidant capacity in both leaves and tops. From the human health perspective, tops of coles and leaf rape are interesting as new crops to include in the diet.

Keywords: Brassica napus; Brassica oleracea; Brassica rapa; antioxidant capacity; food quality; glucosinolates; phenolic compounds.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pictures of turnip greens and tops of Brassica rapa cultivated in northwestern Spain.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Concentration of individual glucosinolates (GSLs) in tops and leaves of the species (A) B. rapa, (B) B. oleracea and (C) B. napus. Thirteen GSLs were found in the experiment, the aliphatic glucoiberverin (GIV), glucoiberin (GIB), sinigrin (SIN), glucoerucin (GER), glucoraphanin (GRA), gluconapin (GNA), progoitrin (PRO), glucoalyssin (ALY) and glucobrassicanapin (GBN); the indolic glucobrassicin (GBS), neo-glucobrassicin (NEOGBS) and hydroxy-glucobrassicin (OHGBS) and the aromatic gluconasturtiin (GNT).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Concentration of glucosinolates (GSLs) of tops and leaves of B. rapa, B. oleracea and B. napus. (A) Aliphatic, indolic and aromatic GSL content. (B) total GSL content. Letters on the top of bars indicate least significant differences among species at p ≤ 0.05. * indicate significant Student’s t between organs of the same species at p ≤ 0.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) Total phenolic content, measured with the Folin-Ciocalteu assay, of tops and leaves of B. rapa, B. oleracea and B. napus. (B) Antioxidant capacity, measured with ABTS assays of tops and leaves of B. rapa, B. oleracea and B. napus. Letters on the top of bars indicate least significant differences among species at p ≤ 0.05. * indicate significant Student´s t between organs of the same species at p ≤ 0.05.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Concentration of glucosinolates (GSLs) of tops and leaves of B. oleracea crops. (A) Aliphatic, indolic and aromatic GSL content of tops. (B) Total GSL content of tops. (C) Aliphatic, indolic and aromatic GSL content of leaves. (D) total GSL content of leaves. Letters on the top of bars indicate least significant differences among B. oleracea crops at p ≤ 0.05.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(A) Total phenolic content, measured with the Folin-Ciocalteu assay, of tops and leaves of B. oleracea crops. (B) Antioxidant capacity, measured with ABTS assays of tops and leaves of B. oleracea crops. Letters on the top of bars indicate least significant differences among species at p ≤ 0.05.
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