Betalains are a class of pigments that are much less com- monly found in nature than anthocyanins or carotenoids. They occur only in a few edible plants such as red beetroot (Beta vulgaris), prickly pears (Opuntia ficus indica), amaranth (Amaranthus sp.) and some mushrooms. This group of pig- ments can be divided into two major groups: yellow vulgax- anthins and red betanins. Despite their structural similarity to compounds from...

Betalains are a group of plant originated pigments with chemopreventive potential. The aim of this study was to relate the composition of betalains and chosen biological activities (antioxidant, cytotoxic, anti-genotoxic and influence on enzymatic activities) for extracts from differently pigmented varieties of prickly pear (yellow, orange and red) and beetroot (white and red). The assumption was that phytocomplexes of tested varieties...

Total mercury (THg) concentrations in fifty-four beetroot-based DSs and seven lots of conventional and organic beetroots (divided into unpeeled, peeled, and skins) were determined by direct thermal decomposition-gold amalgamation cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry. The analytical procedure was optimised and validated. The recovery (%) for Hg was 101.9 and 92.73 in BCR-463 and DOLT 4, respectively. The intermediate precision...