Flavonols and flavones in some bulgarian plant foods

Abstract

Flavonols and fl avones are antioxidants of plant origin with a benefi cial role in the prevention of different diseases. Therefore it is important for their content in various foods to be measured in order to be able to judge on their potential for disease prevention. The aim of the study is to present precise and representative data for fl avonols and fl avones content of Bulgarian foods from Malvaceae and Umbiliferae plant families, based on a validated analytical HPLC procedure. The content of fl avonols and fl avones was determined in one representative belonging to Malvaceae plant family used as food - okra, and four representatives of Umbiliferae plant family - dill, parsley, celery, and carrots. An HPLC method for simultaneous determination of fl avonols myricetin, quercetin, kaempferol and fl avones luteolin and apigenin was applied and validated. The results showed that dill was particularly rich in the fl avonol quercetin (403.0 mg/kg) followed by okra (200.3 mg/kg). The other analysed samples contained only fl avones with the highest amount noted for luteolin in celery leaves (228.9 mg/kg) and for apigenin in parsley (747.9 mg/kg). Those data outlined the ranking of green leaf herbs among the greatest sources of fl avonols and fl avones among Bulgarian foods. They could be used to characterise various biological species and, what is more, they could be successfully applied in practice to formulate preventive antioxidant diets to be administered in case of various contemporary diseases. © Copyright by Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences.