Abstract
Poinsenttia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is a very popular ornamental, it is grown and commercialized all over the world. Poinsettia bracts contain resins, pigments, flavonoids, starch, glucose, essential oils and gallic acid among other compounds. In Mexico there are several sun poinsettia cultivars which in recent years have been introduced in gastronomical dishes. Nowadays the interest in edible flowers is continually increasing; in addition, countries like China and Japan have been consuming flowers for many years. Sun poinsettias have recently been included in some dishes during Christmas festivities, however, there are very few studies related to their chemical composition, so there is an increased interest in knowing the nutritional and nutraceutical properties of these ornamental plants. The objective of the present work was to evaluate some nutraceutical properties of five cultivars of sun poinsettia from Mexico grown under greenhouse conditions in the experimental station of the Autonomous University of Chapingo. Well-developed bracts were collected from the five cultivars: 'Amanecer Navideno', 'Juan Pablo', 'Valenciana', 'Valenciana Superior' and 'Corona' from October to November. These cultivars have different colors: red ('Valenciana', 'Valenciana Superior' and 'Corona'), pink ('Juan Pablo'), and white ('Amanecer Navideno'). Variables considered were total phenolic content CFT, total flavonoids FT, and antioxidant capacity. 'Corona' showed the highest CFT (86.34 +/- 6.27 mg EACG gbs(-1)) meanwhile 'Juan Pablo' showed the lowest CFT (72.441 +/- 1.17 mg EACG gbs(-1)). In FT 'Amanecer Navideno' had the highest value 14.39 +/- 0.09 mg EC gbs(-1) while in 'Valenciana Superior' the lowest value was observed. 'Amanecer Navideno' also showed the highest antioxidant capacity. Among the five cultivars studied there were significant differences for antioxidant capacity.