Nitrate and Chlorophyll Contents in Organically Cultivated Chinese Cabbages

An average Korean known to ingest 3.4 times of the nitrate ADI level are found to have taken in 97% of nitrates through vegetables. This study analyzed the contents of nitrates and chlorophyll in organic Chinese cabbages, a major favorite vegetable for Koreans, with a view to lowering daily intake of nitrate. Our findings show that, in organically cultivated cabbages, the further outward the leaf was located, the more significantly the contents of nitrates increased, with the midrib and leaf blade showing positive relationship of $r=0.789^{**}$, and $r=0.659^{**}$, respectively. In the case of the midrib, the contents increased as high as 79 times ranging from 40ppm for the innermost leaf to 3, 177ppm for the outermost one, and when it comes to the leaf blade, the contents rose as high as 87 times, showing a range of 40 ~ 3,481ppm. Our findings also suggest that it is advisable to discard 1/3 of the outermost leaves before eating Chinese cabbages, since the outer leaves with known high contents of chlorophyll also have high contents of nitrates.