Recently, traditional vegetables and fruits cultivated locally have been increasingly attracting the public’s attention, due to their superior palatability and health functions compared to vegetables and fruits commonly consumed in daily life. Some polyphenols are known to have preventative effects against many diseases and to influence the palatability and quality of foods. Thus, the characteristics of polyphenols contained in traditional vegetables and fruits grown mainly in Yamagata Prefecture were determined in relation to their health functions and food preferences. Major flavonoids identified in the petals of edible chrysanthemum flowers (Chrysanthemum×morifolium Ramat. forma esculentum Makino, cv Kotobuki) showed radical scavenging activities and liver injury-ameliorating effects, which were dependent on the chemical structure. Luteolin and luteolin 7-O-(6"-O-malonyl)-glucoside exhibited stronger radical scavenging activity than the other identified flavonoids. Pretreatment (oral administration) with luteolin or luteolin 7-O-(6"-O-malonyl)-glucoside strongly suppressed carbon tetrachloride (intraperitoneal injection) induced liver injury (increases in plasma aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase activities) in mice. Main anthocyanins in 6 sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) cultivars were identified and quantified to determine the relationship between anthocyanin and flavonoid (rutin) content with identical sugar moiety. Cyanidin 3-O-rutinoside, identified as a major anthocyanin in Japanese cherry cv Benisayaka, could be absorbed from the gastro-intestinal tract when orally administered with a malic acid solution, suggesting that the absorbed anthocyanins might be closely related to their physiological functions. It was also suggested that powdered Japanese cherry, which can be prepared from Japanese cherry juice by food processing, could be available as a raw material for cosmetics.
