Carotenoids, vitamins (A, B2 , C and E) and total folate of traditional foods from black sea area countries.

Source Carotenoids, vitamins (A, B2 , C and E) and total folate are related with health promotion. However, there is still many food matrices for which the content of these compounds is not available. In order to surpass this gap, traditional foods from Black Sea Area countries (BSAC) were analysed in order to investigate their potential health benefits.

RESULTS: The most abundant carotenoid was β-carotene. Plums jam was the sample with the highest β-carotene content (608 µg 100 g-1 of edible portion). The group of vegetables and vegetable based foods was the one that most contributed for β-carotene content. Evergreen cherry laurel presented the highest L-ascorbic acid content (29.9 mg 100 g-1 of edible portion) while the highest riboflavin and total folate content was found for roasted sunflower seeds. Approximately 61% of the analysed samples showed quantifiable amounts of α-tocopherol but did not contain retinol.

CONCLUSION: Despite the great variability on the content of carotenoids, vitamins and total folate, most of the analysed traditional foods from BSAC can be considered good sources of these compounds. Therefore, due to their putative health benefits, the consumption of those with higher content on these compounds should be encouraged and promoted.