Abstract

THE CHANGES IN THE CONTENTS OF POLYPHENOLIC COMPOUNDS OF TARO (COLOCASIA ESCULENTA) UPON DOMESTIC PROCESSING

Benson Boua Boua, Lanciné Traoré*, Daniel Clinnanga Ouattara, Janat-Akhanovna Mamyrbekova-Békro and Yves-Alain Békro

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Abstract

Taro (Colocasia esculenta) root is a great source of bioactive components such polyphenols and offers a variety of potential health benefits, including the prevention of major chronic non-infectious diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabete. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of four cooking methods, namely boiling with peel, boiling without peel, grilling with peel, grilling without peel, on polyphenolic compounds of taro tubers. Determination of polyphenolic, flavonoid and tannin contents of raw and cooked taro tubers was carried out by using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent assay, Neu reagent method and tungstophosphoric acid/Na2CO3 test, respectively. Polyphenolic content of raw taro tuber ranged from 34.8 to 168.4 μgGAE/mg while boiling substantially increases the flavonoids (21.4 μgQE/mg for taro tuber with peel and 19.3 μgQE/mg for taro tuber without peel), whereas grilling allows increasing the tannins (18.4 μgCE/mg for taro tuber with peel and 18.0 μgCE/mg for taro tuber without peel). Four cooking methods in general caused increases in the polyphenolic content of taro tubers. The results of this study can be used for making recommendations on the processing methods to be chosen for optimizing the health benefits of taro tubers.

Keywords: Colocasia esculenta, cooking methods, polyphenols, bioactive components.