Background and Objective: Vegetable consumption has been linked in different studies to reducing non-communicable diseases, particularly diabetes, cancer, respiratory disease, and cardiovascular disease. This study selected five leafy vegetables, and their physicochemical characteristics, fatty acid compositions, and functional quality indices were evaluated.
Materials and Methods: Foreign particles were removed from the samples (Cochorus olitorius, Celosia argentea, Crassocephalum crepidioides, Solanum macrocarpon, and Launaea taraxacifolia) by way of cleaning and were air-dried, and the extraction of the oil was done using the Soxhlet technique. Standard analytical methods were used to determine the physicochemical parameters of the extracted oils, while the gas chromatography technique was used to determine the fatty acid profiles.
Results and Conclusion: The physicochemical parameters of the extracted oils were in the range of 1.08–1.31 meq O₂/Kg for peroxide value, 0.14–0.17 mg KOH/g for acid value, 158.92–180.21 mg KOH/g for saponification value, 80.49–102.21 mg I₂/g for iodine value, 0.65–0.88% for unsaponifiable matter, 1.29–1.40 at 40 °C for refractive index, and 0.93–1.10 at 15 °C for specific gravity. The predominant fatty acids in all the studied samples were palmitic (29.32–37.44%), linoleic (19.73–22.54%), γ-Linolenic (13.91–16.29%), and α-Linolenic (16.74–19.64) acids. PUFAs constitute over two-thirds of the total UFAs, with linoleic acid having the highest abundance of UFA in all the samples. The calculated ratios of ω 6/ω 3 (1.98–2.05), hypocholesterolemic to hypercholesterolemic (h/H) (1.10–1.59), atherogenicity index (AI) (0.44–0.64), thrombogenicity index (TI) (0.40–0.58), the phospholipid composition of the vegetables had a range of 4.36 to 67.96 mg/100 g. The phytosterol concentrations were between 35.4 and 40.6 mg/100 g and were within the acceptable limit of ≤ 10 for edible oils. The evaluated parameters indicated the vegetable oil samples to be of high nutritional quality with preventive potential against chronic degenerative diseases.