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The purpose of this paper is to review the nutritional and food value of pumpkin Cucurbita, along with different health benefits. Cucurbita (pumpkin) is an herbaceous vine, member of Cucurbitaceae family. It is an edible, heat-sensitive plant, which has an abundant amount of active compounds such as carotenoids, alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols, tannins, tocopherols, phytosterols and cucurbitacin, accounted for numerous health benefits, namely, antidiabetic, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, hypotensive, hyper protective activities.

Major well-known bibliometric information sources such as Web of Science, Scopus, Mendeley and Google Scholar were searched with keywords such as nutrition value of Cucurbita, Cucurbita utilization, bioactive compounds of pumpkin, health benefits, processing, food formulations and current scenarios were chosen to obtain a large range of papers to be analyzed. A final inventory of 105 scientific sources was made after sorting and classifying them according to different criteria based on topic, academic field, country of origin and year of publication.

The comprehensive review of different literature, data sources and research papers seeks to find and discuss various nutritional benefits of pumpkin. It contains all necessary macro- and micro-nutrients, amino acids, vitamins, antioxidants and bioactive compounds with a relatively low amount of antinutrients. The recent upsurge in consumer interest for health-promoting products has opened up new vistas for plant products containing bioactive compounds in different food formulations.

This paper contains information regarding the chemical composition, nutritive value, phytochemical studies, pharmacological properties, bio-accessibility, food and industrial applications of pumpkin. Worldwide, pumpkin is used as food additive in various food products such as candy, weaning mix, corn grits, kheer, jam, crackers, bread, etc. Effect of different processing methods such as high temperature, pH, blanching, oven drying, freeze-drying to retain or minimize its losses in case of color, texture, flavor, and the carotenoids are of concern. The review paper highlights the nutritional, therapeutic, potential and processing attributes.

Leafy vegetables are known to be highly perishable because of high moisture content, which had resulted in applications of different preservative methods. However, these methods were not without certain limitations during storage. Osmotic pre-dehydration had been proved to be a better alternative because of high retention and improvement in nutritional qualities and stability during storage. This study aims to investigate the osmotic pre-dehydration of fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis) leaves.

Fluted pumpkin (T. occidentalis) leaves were pre-dried using sucrose, corn syrup and sodium chloride solutions as osmotic agents, while unosmo-predried leaves were used as the control. Both osmo-predehydrated and unosmo-predried leaves were dried in a hot air oven, whereas the effect of the osmotic agents on the nutritional qualities was investigated using standard protocols.

There were significant differences (p-values ranged from 0.001 to 0.030) in the proximate compositions of samples. Osmo-predried leaves recorded higher mineral contents in Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn and Na. Osmotic pre-dehydration by NaCl had a significant effect (p = 0.02) on ascorbic acid. The amino acid profile of the oven-dried leaves (unosmo-predried) showed that histidine and cysteine recorded high amino acid scores of 120.42% and 135%, respectively. Threonine (43.73%) recorded the highest essential amino acid score (without histidine). The economic evaluation indicated the percentage cost index difference of leaves treated with NaCl as 2.08%, sucrose (11.19%) and corn syrup (16.43%).

The high proportion of beneficial elements such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and appreciable chemical compositions of the osmo-predried leaves compared to unpre-dried leaves proved osmotic pre-dehydration as a value-added technique for preservation of leafy vegetables. The best osmotic agent was sodium chloride. This process could be applied on a small scale for the development of self-entrepreneurs and home-scale industries.

Fluted pumpkin seed shell, an abundant and inexpensive natural resource in Nigeria, was used as a precursor to adsorbent production for the removal of suspended and dissolved particle (SDP) from initially coagulated coal washery effluent (CWE). Key parameters such as contact time, adsorbent dose, pH and temperature were investigated using batch mode. The adsorption equilibrium, thermodynamics and kinetics of SDP on H₃PO₄ treated shell (FPA) and NH₄Cl treated shell (FPS) were examined at specified temperatures. Equilibrium data sufficiently fit the Langmuir isotherm model (R² > 0.99; SSE < 0.09). The pseudo-second order kinetic model provides the best correlation (R²>0.99;SSE<0.1) with the experimental data. The evaluated ΔG○ and ΔH○ indicate the spontaneous and endothermic nature of the process. This study demonstrates that pumpkin seed shell could be utilized as low cost, renewable, ecofriendly bioadsorbent for the removal of SDP from CWE.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the content of nutrients and minerals in various cultivars of Cucurbita maxima.

This is preliminary study, so eight samples from each cultivar of pumpkin used in this study were obtained from local farms from Poland. The following pumpkin cultivars were used: Australian butter, Flat white boer, Garbo, Golden delicious, Golden nugget, Hokkaido, Solor and Zapallito de tronco. In pumpkins elements, dry matter, ash and crude protein were determined. All elements were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer. Content of dry matter, ash and crude protein according to AOAC methods.

The fruit of Cucurbita maxima, irrespective of cultivar, is a good means of supplementing the diet with highly beneficial fibre, and minerals such as potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulphur, silicon, iron and zinc. The pumpkins richest in minerals are those of the Australian butter cultivar (calcium, manganese, iron), Flat white boer (sodium, silicon, chromium, nickel), Hokkaido (potassium, phosphorus, zinc, chromium) and Solor (magnesium, sulphur, copper), while the Garbo, Golden Delicious and Zapallito de tronco cultivars had the lowest concentrations of minerals.

The results obtained indicate that depending on the consumer’s expectations, pumpkins of various cultivars can be a dietary component that corrects deficiencies in the diet. Pumpkins grown in Poland have been characterised in terms of the content of mineral elements. These vegetables have become an important component of local food in Poland.

The study assessed the levels of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and their potential non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks in four regularly consumed fruit vegetables.

The OCPs’ residues were quantified using a gas chromatograph coupled with an electron capture detector (GC-ECD) and the dietary exposure of children, and adult consumers to the detected OCPs was evaluated using carcinogenic and systemic health risk estimations.

Aldrin, endrin, endrin aldehyde, a-endosulfan, β-endosulfan, endosulfan sulphate, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide and dieldrin were detected in the four fruit vegetables. The predominant OCP residue in carrot, cucumber, tomatoes and watermelon was endosulfan sulphate with mean concentrations of 2.532 mg kg⁻¹, 1.729 mg kg⁻¹, 2.363 mg kg⁻¹ and 1.154 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. The residues levels in some of the fruit vegetables were higher than their respective maximum residue levels (MRLs) of 0.01–0.05 mg kg⁻¹ set by the European Commission with concentrations above MRLs ranging between 25.5% and 100%. The systemic health risk estimations showed that the hazard index (HI) values for carrot (3.20), cucumber (9.25), tomatoes (50.21) and watermelon (16.76) were >1 for children consumers and the respective HI values of 2.87, 15.57 and 5.20 for adult consumers of cucumber, tomatoes and watermelon were >1 which implies potential systemic health risks. Four carcinogens (aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide) had cancer risk index values greater than the acceptable risk of 1 in 1 million for both adult and children consumers.

The paper shows that despite the ban on the use of OCPs in Nigeria, they are still being used for agricultural production especially on some locally produced and regularly consumed fruit vegetables as reported in the present study. The non-existence of surveillance programmes on pesticide usage and the lack of proper monitoring of pesticide residues in food products including fruit and vegetables must have contributed to the levels of the detected OCP in the samples analysed. The current daily intake of OCP via contaminated vegetables may pose potential health risks to both the children and adult consumers of the fruit vegetables.

To investigate the potential food, feed and industrial values of some tropical underutilized medicinal plant materials.

Dry‐milled plants, namely: Gongronema latifolium and Vernonia amygdalina were subjected to chemical analysis to determine their proximate, mineral, elemental, fatty acid and amino acid compositions using standard procedures.

Results show that the lipid extract, ash, crude fibre and nitrogen free extractives, oxalate, phytate and tannin of the plants are within expected ranges. They however had unexpectedly high crude protein content: 27.20 and 21.69 per cent, respectively. Potassium, phosphorus, calcium and cobalt were the most abundant mineral elements. G. latifolium and V. amygdalina leaf oils are 50.22 and 24.54 per cent saturated; 39.38 and 65.45 per cent polyunsaturated, respectively. Palmitic and oleic acids were the major monounsaturated fatty acids. Degrees of unsaturation are 0.46 and 0.41, respectively. Major essential amino acids are leucine, valine and phenylalanine. Proportions of essential to non‐essential amino acid are 43.37 and 49.84 per cent, respectively.

The nutritional composition of the plant materials suggests that they may find use in food/feed formulation operations and as industrial raw materials.

The aim of this paper is to assess the safety of commonly consumed green leafy vegetables in southwest Nigeria in relation to lead (Pb) contamination.

In total, 585 samples of five species of commonly consumed green leafy vegetable samples were procured from 15 outdoor markets and selected farms in three major cities (Abeokuta, Ibadan and Lagos) in the region. Samples were fragmented to two portions (water‐washed and unwashed) and subjected to acid digestion. The Pb in the digests was measured using a flame atomic spectrophotometer. Relevant information was elicited from traders by the administration of a structured questionnaire. Acceptable daily intakes of the metal from the vegetables were estimated using the FAO/WHO total diet study.

Lead concentrations in all the vegetable samples (6.35‐20.85 mg/kg) exceeded the recommended value of 0.3 mg/kg for green leafy vegetables. The estimated daily intakes of the metal (1.11×10⁻² to 2.02×10⁻² mg/kg bw) were also higher than the FAO/WHO safety threshold of 3.0×10⁻³ to 4.0×10⁻³ mg/kg bw for Pb. Washing the vegetables with water reduced Pb concentrations and EDIs by 11.36 to 43.52 per cent but did not bring the values below the recommended limit.

It was impossible to evaluate the effect of distance from highways on metal concentration because traders were not restricted to a particular location in the outdoor markets in the country.

The study constitutes an evaluative probe into the degree of exposure of commonly consumed vegetables to Pb contamination, contributing to the database of knowledge on toxic metal daily intake from Nigerian foods and environmental contamination.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the physicochemical properties of oil produced from Roselle seeds.

The oil was produced from the seeds by mechanical expression and the physicochemical properties of the oil determined using the AOAC methods.

The values of the physicochemical properties of oil from Roselle seed are saponification value 126.2, iodine value 111.2, viscosity 22.5 cp, refractive index 1.4472 and specific gravity 0.9558. The peroxide value varied between 6.0‐9.3 and 5.9‐9.0; and free fatty acid, 0.435‐2.300 and 0.510‐3.311 for fine and coarse samples, respectively. These values compared favourably with standard values, indicating that the oil extracted is edible.

The properties are useful in determining the suitability of the oil from the Roselle seeds as edible oil or for other industrial purposes.

The purpose of this paper is to provide information on how processing technique affects some of the nutrient in cashew nut. It aims to guide processors of the nut on the processing techniques that can retain or minimize losses of nutrients during processing.

Cashew nuts were obtained from commodity support service that procure cashew for export. Standard methods and techniques of processing (boiling, fermentation, germination, roasting) were employed. Standard Association of Official Analytical Chemist methods were used for analysis.

Cashew nut is low in deleterious elements and processing methods (boiling and fermentation) techniques reduced them. The energy values ranged from 25‐27.38 kJ/g. The nut contains micro‐ and macronutritive elements that can effectively supplement daily requirement of man especially potassium. Processing reduced some of the essential mineral elements. Cashew nut may be used to improve low protein diet.

Processing was carried out using locally available materials. Fermentation was not controlled.

Cashew nut can be included in low protein diet, it can improve mineral intake and deleterious elements pose no threat to its consumption.

The paper provides information on processing effect on cashew nuts which had not been reported in literature, hence, provides data base information.