Okra in Food Field: Nutritional Value, Health Benefits and Effects of Processing Methods on Quality

Abstract

Okra is a new type of healthy vegetable and belongs to the homology of medicine and food in traditional Chinese medicine. It is rich in nutrients and active ingredients (i.e. dietary fiber, vitamins, oils, polysaccharides, polyphenols), which makes it to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and other functions. This paper reviews various ingredients in okra, their health benefits and their mechanism of action; also pays attention to the influence of different processing methods on the quality of okra.