Nutritional value, bioactive compounds and capacity antioxidant in edible flowers of dahlia

Abstract

 The aim of this research was to evaluate the nutritional value, bioactive compounds and capacity antioxidant in ligulate flowers of dahlia with different colour. The statistical analysis reveals that the petals of the pink and purple colour have more protein and raw fibre (18.54 and 19.25, 16.54 and 15.81%, respectively) and similar raw fat values between the analysed colours. Likewise, the flowers with the highest content of vitamin C, phenols and total flavonoids were observed in the pink, purple and cherry colours, where the latter also stands out for its content of total anthocyanins (3.2 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside 100 g–1). However, the yellow ones showed higher antioxidant capacity (68.82 mg AAEVC 100 g–1), which coincides with that found with the concentration of total carotenoids (0.64 μg β-carotene g–1). For the consumers who choose to change their eating habits and seek to include ingredients of vegetable origin (vegetarian and vegan) with low caloric content and a sufficient