In Vitro Bioactivities of Commonly Consumed Cereal, Vegetable, and Legume Seeds as Related to Their Bioactive Components: An Untargeted Metabolomics Approach Using UHPLC–QTOF-MS2.

Abstract

We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the antioxidant, anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, and anti-glycation activities associated with the consumption of broccoli, red cabbage, alfalfa, and buckwheat seeds. Additionally, we explored the relationship between these biological activities and Citation: Aloo, S.O.; Ofosu, F.K.; Muchiri, M.N.; Vijayalakshmi, S.; Pyo, C.-G.; Oh, D.-H. In Vitro Bioactivities of Commonly Consumed Cereal, Vegetable, and Legume Seeds as Related to Their Bioactive Components: An Untargeted Metabolomics Approach Using UHPLC–QTOF-MS2. Antioxidants 2023, 12, 1501. https:// doi.org/10.3390/antiox12081501 Academic Editor: Stanley Omaye Received: 25 June 2023 Revised: 23 July 2023 Accepted: 26 July 2023 Published: 27 July 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). the profiles of amino acids, polyphenols, and organic acids identified in the seeds. Our findings demonstrated that red cabbage, broccoli, and buckwheat extracts exhibited significantly higher antioxidant potential compared to the alfalfa extract. Moreover, buckwheat displayed the most signif icant capacity for inhibiting alpha-glucosidase. Remarkably, broccoli and red cabbage demonstrated substantial anti-glycation and lipase inhibitory potentials. We identified the presence of amino acids, polyphenols, and organic acids in the extracts through untargeted metabolomics analysis. Correlation analysis revealed that pyroglutamic acid positively correlated with all the investigated functional properties. Most polyphenols made positive contributions to the functional properties, with the exception of ferulic acid, which displayed a negative correlation with all tested biological activities. Furthermore, gluconic acid and arabinonic acid among the organic acids identified displayed a positive correlation with all the functional properties. These results strongly support the anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, and anti-glycation potential of red cabbage, broccoli, and buckwheat seeds.