New data on the carotenoid composition of raw salad vegetables

This study was carried out to determine the concentrations of the principal carotenoids of eight vegetables (Nantes carrot, chicory, Boston and curly lettuce, green bell pepper, rucula, Carmen tomato and cress), which are the most consumed in raw salad by the Brazilian population. The samples were purchased from three major supermarkets in the city of Sao Paulo. For each vegetable, six composite samples collected at different times during the year were analyzed individually. The green vegetables had lutein (7.7-56.1 mu g/g), beta-carotene (2.7-35.3 mu g/g), violaxanthin (4.6-31.7 mu g/g) and neoxanthin (3.1-20.5 mu g/g) as principal carotenoids. Boston and curly lettuce also contained lactucaxanthin (7.5 and 6.7 mu g/g, respectively). Carrot had a-carotene (35.0 mu g/g) and beta-carotene (61.5 mu g/g) as principal carotenoids and lutein (5.1 mu g/g) as minor component. Tomato, a rich source of lycopene (35.4 mu g/g), also contained lutein (1.0 mu g/g) and beta-carotene (3.2 mu g/g) in much smaller amounts.