Nutritional Constituents of Some Commonly Consumed Asian Vegetables

Zou Li¹, Tan Wee Kee², Du Yuanyuan³, Lee Hui Wen⁴, Ong Choon Nam⁵

¹ Research Associate, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH), NUS

² Senior Research Fellow; ³ Research Fellow; ⁴ Research Assistant, NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI), NUS

⁵ Professor, SSHSPH & NERI, NUS; Email: ephocn@nus.edu.sg

Abstract

Many nutritionally important components for humans can be found in vegetables. They have been viewed as essential nutrients as the human body either cannot synthesize on its own or that their synthesis necessitates specific conditions. A diet high in vitamin A and E is known to lower the incidence of numerous chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and several types of cancer. It is now also well recognized that many plant secondary metabolites, including glucosinolates, polyphenols, and flavonoids, are dietary components known to be beneficial to human health, and have attracted much attention recently. However, few comprehensive research has been conducted on leafy vegetables. Over the last two decades our team has systematically characterized and quantified various nutrients among Asian leafy vegetables that may have benefit to human health. We identified and measured primary metabolites including amino acid, carbohydrate and plant mineral. For secondary metabolites we studied glucosinolates, vitamin A, E and K, in addition to a spectrum of polyphenols such as flavonoids and hydroxycinnamic acids. Further, the antioxidant capacities of these vegetables were also determined in relation to their nutritional components. The overall data suggested that the nutritional components of these Asian vegetables are highly diversified and substantial and could have contributed significantly to our dietary requirement needs.

About the Speaker

A professor at the NUS with a lifelong passion of all matters related to environment on human health. His current research interest is on nexus of water and energy on urban farming. He has served as an advisor to the WHO on many occasions and is an editorial board member of several journals on environment and sustainability. Dr Ong Chaired the International Expert Panel which advised the MSE on the NEWater study. He also served as an advisor to the OECD, US National Water Research Institute and has been a member of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality Expert Panel since 2003. He has over 300 international publications with an h-index of 99, and over 32,500 citations.