Analysis On The Nutrition Composition and Antioxid
Analysis On The Nutrition Composition and Antioxid
Abstract
In this study, we selected four different color fleshed sweet potatoes, purple- (Jizi 01), red- (Xi-
nong 431), yellow- (Beijing 553) and white- (Shangshu 19) fleshed cultivars as test materials, ana-
lyzed nutrient composition, dietary fiber content, anthocyanins quantification, and total phenolics
content, and also measured their total antioxidant activity in four different types of sweet potato.
In view of differences in flesh color, the nutrient contents of different cultivars appeared to be sig-
nificantly different. Starch contents of Beijing 553 and Shangshu 19 were higher, but fat contents
were lower than others. Protein content of Shangshu 19 was the highest followed by Jizi 01 and
Xinong 431. In addition, our analysis results confirmed that purple fleshed sweet potato possesses
much higher anthocyanins content than others, even up to 6.23 mg/g dry matter. Also, dietary fi-
ber, total phenolics content, and total antioxidant capacity of Jizi 01 were significantly higher.
Keywords
Sweet Potato, Nutrition Composition, Antioxidant Activity, Anthocynin
1. Introduction
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam.) is one of the most important crops in the world because of not only its
*
Corresponding author.
How to cite this paper: Ji, H., Zhang, H.X., Li, H.T. and Li, Y.C. (2015) Analysis on the Nutrition Composition and Antioxidant
Activity of Different Types of Sweet Potato Cultivars. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 6, 161-167.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/fns.2015.61017
H. Ji et al.
considerable amount of nutrient, but also phytochemicals in its root and leaves. Also, it has its advantages of
high yielding, drought tolerance, and wide adaptability to various climate and farming systems over the world.
Thus, it has been widely used for food and industrial application.
Among other root and tuber crops, sweet potato contains higher contents of carbohydrates, various vitamins,
minerals, and protein than other vegetables [1]. It also contains much higher levels of provitamin A, vitamin C
and minerals than rice or wheat [2]. In addition to the nutritional values of sweet potatoes, it has been redisco-
vered as a functional food containing high levels of various phytochemicals which might have various health
beneficial effects [3]. Most studies on phytochemicals in roots or leaves of sweet potato indicated that their
health promoting and/or disease preventing benefits were related to the high level of polyphenols. In particularly,
cancer-preventive effects of polyohenols in sweet potato have been widely investigated. For example, Rabah et
al. demonstrated that sweet potato extract offered the activity of cancer prevention which was correlated with its
level of phenolic content [4].
There are varieties of flesh color of sweet potatoes. It also has been noticed that the color of sweet potato may
play a crucial role in their health beneficial effect. Physiological functions of color-fleshed sweet potato culti-
vars have been widely reported. They have proved their excellent bioactivities such as antimutagenic [5] [6],
radical scavenging [7], antihyperglycemic [8], hepatoprotective [9] [10], anticancer [11] [12], antioxidant activi-
ties [13]-[16], and chemopreventive activities [17] [18]. Those studies agreed that biological effects of sweet
potato may be due to the phenolic pigment, “anthocyanin”.
In this study, we selected four sweet potato cultivars with different color flesh, purple-, red-, yellow- and
white-fleshed sweet potatoes. To identify novel characteristics of these different types of sweet potato, we ana-
lyzed nutrient composition and dietary fiber content, and quantified anthocyanins content of sweet potato sam-
ples. Also, Antioxidant activity and total phenolic content were tested.
2.2. Methods
2.2.1. Sample Preparation
For each sweet potato sample, tubers were randomly taken, washed with tap water, diced into approximately 0.5
cm cubes, freeze-dried (general purpose freeze dryer, FD-1C-55, Boyikang experimental instrument Co., Ltd,
Beijing) and ground by pestle and mortar into powder. Prepared powder was stored at −80˚C until use.
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3. Result
3.1. Nutrient Composition Content
Starch (60.1% - 71.4%) is the most predominant nutrient component of four different color fleshed sweet potato
samples followed by protein (4.86% - 6.53%), small amounts of fat (0.56% - 0.76%). The nutrient contents of
different types of sweet potato appeared to be significantly different in nutrient we analyzed (Table 1). Starch
contents of yellow- (Beijing 553) and white- (Shangshu 19) fleshed sweet potatoes were higher than other two
types. Protein content of Shangshu 19 was the highest followed by purple- (Jizi 01), red-fleshed sweet potato
(Xinong 431). Fat contents in Jizi 01and Xinong 431 were higher, and its in Beijing 553 and Shangshu 19 were
similar. However, dietary fiber content of purple fleshed sweet potato was significantly higher than other three
types of sweet potato (p < 0.05) (Table 1).
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Table 1. Nutrient composition, dry matter and ash content of sweet potato samples.
Data are reported on a 100% dry weight basis. Protein is calculated using a 6.25 conversion factor. The mark a, b, c in the same row without a com-
mon letter indicates significant difference, p < 0.05.
4. Discussion
All know, daily consumption of fruit and vegetables that contain phytochemicals is highly recommended in diet
due to their health protection effects. Among these phytochemicals, phenolic compounds anthocyanins have
been recognized for their healthy benefit. Among our tested varieties, purple-fleshed sweet potato is attracting
lots of attention from people in nutrition. The strong color of purple sweet potato is contributed by phenolic
pigment called anthocyanins. For this study, we have proved the higher level of anthocyanin content in purple-
fleshed sweet potato compared to other tested sweet potatoes samples, red-, yellow-, and white-fleshed sweet
potato. Our purple sweet potato cultivar, Jizi 01 showed its prominent level of anthocyanins content (6.23 mg/g
dw) (Table 2). Red-fleshed Xinong 431 and yellow-fleshed Beijing 553 also showed small amount of anthocya-
nins (2.56 mg/g dw and 1.32 mg/g dw), but white–fleshed Shangshu 19 showed undetectable value. In this mat-
ter, our results agree with others [14] [21]-[23].
Purple-fleshed sweet potato was also significantly high in phenolic content (54.3 mg/g dw) as well as in anti-
oxidant capacity (81.2 mg/g dw) (Table 2). As we assumed, the antioxidant capacity of purple sweet potato was
due to its highest phenolic content among sweet potato samples we tested. However, interestingly, Shangshu 19
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Table 2. Anthocyanins content, total phenolic content, and antioxidant capacity of sweet potato samples.
Data are reported on a 100% dry weight basis. Abbreviations are as follows: UD: undetectable value. dw: dry weight. The mark a, b, c, d in the same
row without a common letter indicates significant difference, p < 0.05.
showed significantly higher antioxidant capacity (55.2 mg/g dw) than that of Beijing 553 (43.3 mg/g dw) despite
its lower phenolic content (p < 0.05). It might contain more antioxidant phytochemicals besides anthocyanins.
Our data showed that sweet potato contains rich starch, protein, fat and dietary fiber. Numerous studies sug-
gested that sweet potato is rich in nutrition and nutrient balance [24]. According to Zhang L. M. et al. [24],
sweet potato had health care function and medicinal value for different nutrient components such as carotene, vita-
min (VB1, VB2, VC, VE), dietary fiber, minerals (K, Ca, Fe, P and Se), dehydroepiandrosterone, slime protein et
al. There also have been studies documenting the benefits of sweet potato on anticancer activity [25]-[30].
5. Conclusion
In conclusion, among four different color-fleshed sweet potatoes we selected, the nutrition compositions were
similar, but the quantity of nutrients was significantly different. However, purple-fleshed Jizi 01 cultivar pos-
sesses much higher anthocyanins content compared with others. Dietary fiber, total phenolics content, and total
antioxidant capacity of Jizi 01 were also significantly higher than others. The high content of total phenolics
likely was responsible for significantly higher antioxidant activity. Taken together, these findings indicate novel
characteristics of sweet potato, particularly purple-fleshed cultivar on their potential health benefits. Thus, it is
suggested that people try to develop anthocyanin enriched purple sweet potato.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the Service Center for Experts and scholars of Hebei
Province, China.
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