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Health Promoting vs Anti-nutritive Aspects of Kohlrabi Sprouts, a Promising Candidate for Novel Functional Food

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Abstract

Kohlrabi sprouts are just gaining popularity as the new example of functional food. The study was focused on the influence of germination time and light conditions on glucosinolates, phenolic acids, flavonoids, and fatty acids content in kohlrabi sprouts, in comparison to the bulbs. The effect of kohlrabi products on SW480, HepG2 and BJ cells was also determined. The length of sprouting time and light availability significantly influenced the concentrations of the phenolic compounds. Significant differences in progoitrin concentrations were observed between the sprouts harvested in light and in the darkness, with significantly lower content for darkness conditions. Erucic acid was the dominant fatty acid found in sprouts (14.5–34.5%). Sprouts and bulbs were less toxic to normal than to cancer cells. The sprouts stimulated necrosis (56.4%) more than apoptosis (34.1%) in SW480 cells, while the latter effect was predominant for the bulbs. Both sprouts and bulbs caused rather necrosis (45.5 and 63.9%) than apoptosis (32 and 32.5%) in HepG2 cells.

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Funding

This study was supported by the following grants from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education: N42/DBS/000111 and N42/DBS/000167. The Uniflora Company (Częstochowa, Poland) supports the idea of investigation of kohlrabi sprouts in in vitro models.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Chemistry and Nutrition, Medical College, Jagiellonian University, Medyczna 9, 30-688, Kraków, Poland

    Paweł Paśko, Małgorzata Tyszka-Czochara, Paweł Zagrodzki & Ewelina Prochownik

  2. Department of Pharmacognosy, Medical College, Jagiellonian University, 30-688, Kraków, Poland

    Agnieszka Galanty

  3. Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Medical College, Jagiellonian University, 30-688, Kraków, Poland

    Paweł Żmudzki

  4. Department of Radioligands, Medical College, Jagiellonian University, 30-688, Kraków, Poland

    Joanna Gdula-Argasińska

  5. Institute for Drug Research, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Shela Gorinstein

Authors
  1. Paweł Paśko
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  2. Agnieszka Galanty
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Correspondence to Paweł Paśko or Shela Gorinstein.

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Highlights

• The sprouts harvested in light and dark differed in progoitrin content.

• Erucic acid was dominant unsaturated fatty acid in all evaluated kohlrabi parts.

• Kohlrabi sprouts and bulbs were less toxic to normal than to cancer cell.

• Sprouts stimulated necrosis more than apoptosis in SW480 cells.

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Paśko, P., Galanty, A., Tyszka-Czochara, M. et al. Health Promoting vs Anti-nutritive Aspects of Kohlrabi Sprouts, a Promising Candidate for Novel Functional Food. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 76, 76–82 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-020-00877-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-020-00877-1

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