Chemical composition, carotenoids, vitamins and minerals in wild mustard collected in the woods

Resumo

Wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis L.), Brassicaceae, is a wild vegetable found in forest fragments, domestic orchards and it is consumed by rural population. The objective of this work was to study chemical composition, concentration of carotenoids, vitamins and minerals and the contribution by this vegetable to the recommendations of daily consumption of nutrients for adult individuals. Moisture and ash were quantified by gravimetry after drying using soxhlet; FAT by means of non-enzymatic gravimetry; carotenoids and vitamin C by means of High Performance Liquid Chromatography system (HPLC), with detection by arrangement of diodes (HPLC-DAD); vitamin E by HPLC, with detection by fluorescence; and minerals by Atomic Emission Spectrometry in individual coupled plasma (ICP-AES). Concentrations of provitamin A (252.21 RAE µg/100 g), Se (0.04 mg/100g) and Fe (5.91 mg/100g) stood out, in which this vegetable is considered as an excellent source of this nutrient. In addition, wild mustard was considered a good source of K (435.65 mg/100g), Ca (123.25 mg/100g) and Mn (0.40 mg/100g) and source of Total Dietary Fiber (TDF) (3.20 mg/100g), Mg (26.82 mg/100g) and Cu (0.07 mg/100g). Wild mustard stood out as source, good source or excellent source of the evaluated nutrients, and they may contribute to reduce nutritional deficiency of those nutrients in the populations living in the region where this vegetable occurs.