Goitrogen content of cyanogenic plant foods of Indian origin

Goitrogen content of fresh and cooked commonly consumed cyanogenic plant foods/vegetables viz. cabbage, cauliflower, radish, mustard, turnip, soybean, peanut, maize, bamboo shoot, papaya and cassava of Indian origin is reported. Most of these vegetables were collected from different regions of West Bengal and Tripura where endemic goitre was found during post-salt iodization phase and cassava (tapioca) was collected from Meghalaya and Kerala of India. Goitrogenic constituents of cyanogenic origin viz. cyanogenic glucosides, glucosinolates (thioglucosides) and thiocyanate were found in all the studied plants with varying concentrations. Cyanogenic glucoside content was highest in bamboo shoot followed by cassava, cauliflower, radish, cabbage, turnip and papaya; glucosinolates was maximum in cauliflower, followed by cabbage, bamboo shoot, turnip, radish, cassava, soybean, mustard etc., and thiocyanate content was highest in bamboo shoot followed by mustard, turnip, papaya, cabbage, radish, peanut, cauliflower, cassava, soybean and maize. After cooking the selected plant foods cyanogenic glucosides content was reduced markedly, glucosinolates content was decreased to a certain extent while thiocyanate content remained slightly increased or almost same in comparison to their uncooked / fresh counterparts. These results showed that the studied plant foods have the goitrogenic/anti-thyroid constituents that are capable of interfering thyroid function. Cooking does not reduce the goitrogenic content of the cyanogenic plant foods completely.