Edible flowers of ornamental plants are non-toxic flowers that have been used since ancient times for their nutritional and health benefits. These health benefits are attributed to their phytochemicals such as phenolic acids and flavonoids. These phytochemicals exert positive health effects on chronic diseases such as cancer, inflammation, and diabetes. This research paper is focused on the systematic investigation of free phenolic acids and flavonoids (including anthocyanins) present in 70 commonly consumed edible flowers collected from local parks and Qingping market of Guangzhou, China. The phenolic acids and flavonoids of flower samples were determined by high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detector. The phenolic acids, flavones, flavonols, flavanones, and anthocyanins of different flower samples exhibit a wide range of variation. Gallic acid (1177.8-27717.2 μg/g), protocatechuic acid (66.7-9641.2 μg/g), p-hydroxybenzoic acid (43.6-1792.7 μg/g), quercitrin and hesperidin (49.9-14576.6 μg/g), and quercetin and luteolin (8.8-480.0 μg/g) were the predominant phenolic compounds in edible flowers samples under investigation. Anthocyanins were detected only in 14 kinds of flower samples and most of these flowers were of red or purple colour.
Keywords: Anthocyanins; Bioactive compounds; Edible flowers; Flavonoids; Phenolic acids.
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