ESTIMATION OF BETA-CAROTENE, IRON AND OXALIC ACID CONTENT IN GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES

Abstract

Vitamin A and iron deficiency is observed mainly among the population in rural, dry and arid zones. Oxalic acid may course nutrient deficiencies and also contribute to the formation of kidney stones. It: is probably due to the non availability and poor knowledge of vitamin A ,iron and oxalic acid rich foods. Although vitamin A and iron are most bioavailable in foods of animal origin, the high cost of these foods make them less accessible to most people in Sri Lanka. This project was aimed to identify cheap sources rich in pro vitamin A, iron and oxalic add and to evaluate the concentrations of different green leafy vegetables. Further bioavailability of beta-carotene was calculated in terms of retinol equivalent, iron and oxalic acid in terms of mg / 100g of edible portion. All plant pigments were extracted with acetone and running through a open column chromatography to separate beta-carotene. The cluted was determined by spectrophotometry. In the iron estimation measure the absorbance of complex form, between iron (II) and 1,10-phcnnnihrolenc, and determined amount by using Spectrophotometry. Oxalic acid converted into form of insoluble calcium oxalate and separating it by centrifugation. Again it was convening back to oxalic acid by using conc.H2 SO4 and quantified by litromelically with KMnO4 solution of standard normality. Of the green leafy vegetables, relinol equivalent was highest in kathurumurunga (22,94pg/g) closely followed by murungn (I6.79pg%) and kura-thompala (15.55pg/g). Hin-gotukola (53.98mg) pochdti gottikola (42.95mg) and rmhu-ihampala (40.43mg) were the highest amounts of iron content found in 100g o f edible portion and the murunga (165.25mg), kathurumurunga (122.01 mg) and nivithi (78.98mg) leaves are the leafy vegetables that contain highest amount of oxalic acid in 100g of edible portion.