Asian Journal of Applied Chemistry Research

Pleurotus ostreatus are edible mushrooms that are affordable and rich in nutrients, with the potential to help address current and future food shortages. They also have the ability to serve as functional foods that may help in preventing and treating diseases. This study analyzed the profiles of vitamins, phytochemicals, and antioxidant activity in Pleurotus ostreatus. To do this, an analytical system using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) was used to identify the phytochemicals present in the mushrooms. The vitamin content showed high levels of vitamin C (58.73±0.099 mg/100g), vitamin D (49.83±0.099 mg/100g), vitamin E (19.53±0.198 mg/100g), and vitamin A (12.51±0.127 mg/100g), moderate levels of vitamin B12 (4.10±0.057 mg/100g), and small amounts of vitamin B6 (0.09±0.014 mg/100g), vitamin B1 (0.07±0.014 mg/100g), and vitamin B2 (0.07±0.021 mg/100g). A total of twenty-one (21) phytochemicals were identified from the GC-FID analysis of the oyster mushroom. These included a high concentration of quercetin, epicatechin, naringin, luteolin, artemetin, ellagic acid, naringenin, hesperidin, resveratrol, tangeretin, and isorhamnetin, ranging from 2.500 to 23.000 ppm. Moderate amounts of kaempferol, catechin, rutin, vanillic acid, apigenin, myricetin, epicatechin, daidzein, genistein, apigenin, lunamarin, and gallocatechin were found in the range of 0.10 to 0.90 ppm. Tangeretin had the highest phytochemical content at 22.329 ppm, while genistein had the lowest at 0.155 ppm. The ethanolic extract of P. ostreatus showed a strong ability to neutralize the DPPH radical, compared to BHT. It was also effective in scavenging FRAP radicals in a dose-dependent manner, similar to gallic acid. The findings of this study highlight the health benefits of consuming oyster mushrooms and support the idea of including them in the human diet as functional foods that can help in disease prevention and treatment.