QUANTIFICATION OF PROVITAMIN-A COMPOUNDS IN CHINESE VEGETABLES BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

The provitamin A contents of 16 vegetables grown in Taiwan were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode-array detection. The amounts of the major provitamin A compounds, beta-cryptoxanthin, alpha-carotene, and beta-carotene ranged from 0-6.8, 0-27.7, and 0.6-104.9 mug/g, respectively. The highest beta-carotene content was found in basil, followed by onion fragrant, kale, carrot, spinach, water convolvulus, mustard, green, onion, garland chrysanthemum, sweet potato, green pepper, yellow com. mustard stem, lettuce, cabbage, and celeriac. Carrot was the only vegetable found to contain alpha-carotene while com was the vegetable to contain beta-cryptoxanthin.