Abstract
Improper cultivation can easily cause excessive nitrate accumulation in leafy vegetables, and the cooking processes used to prepare them can upset their nitrate/antioxidant balance, affecting their potential nitrite safety risk (PNSR). We investigated the impacts stir-frying, steaming, microwav-ing, and boiling on the nitrate, nitrite, and antioxidant capacity in water spinach and cabbage, and observed the impacts of storage duration on the PNSR. The antioxidant/in vivo nitrite ratio (A/N) was used to evaluate the nitrite risks in the cooked vegetables. Boiling achieved the highest A/N ratio (1.57) for water spinach, reducing the nitrate content by 25% without significantly affecting the antioxidant capacity. Stir-frying achieved the highest A/N ratio (6.55) for cabbage, increasing the antioxidant capacity by 140% without significantly affecting the nitrate content. Furthermore, it was found that the storage periods for boiled water spinach and stir-fried cabbage should not exceed 12 h and 24 h, respectively. Appropriate cooking methods and limited storage times are thus required for leafy vegetable to prevent adverse health effects.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 2953 |
Journal | Foods |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 12 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords
- Antioxidant/in vivo nitrite ratio
- Cooking
- Leafy vegetable
- Nitrate
- Potential nitrite safety risk assessment
- Total antioxidant capacity
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article