Radish-Storehouse Of Chemicals

An annual or biennial herb,radish is cultivated throughout india and upto 3000 m high in the Himalayas and other hilly regions. Its botonical name is Raphanus Sativus. Radish is known to contain many chemicals.

It is a good source of ascorbic acid and mineral salts. Trace elements in radish include aluminium, barium, lithium, manganese, silicon, titanium, fluorine and iodine.Pink skinned radish is generally richer in ascorbic acid than the white skinned one. In the former the vitamin is more concentratedin the skin in association with the pigment than in the flesh. Salad made from coloured upper skin together with young radish leaves could serve as an excellent source of ascorbic acid. There is an appreciable loss of ascorbic acid during storage, cooking and drying of radish.

Radish also contains glucose as the major sugar and smaller quantities of fructose and sucrose. The characteristic pungent odour of radish has been attributed to the presence of volatile isothiocyanates (mustard oil). Methyl mercaptan is responsible for the disagreeable odour of radish oil.According to a recent investigation trance-4-methyl thiobutenyl isothiocyanate is found to be responsible for the pungent nature of radish.


Flavonols are present in radish in minute quantities. Now flavon is used as an anticancer medicine. The leafy top of the radish is sometimes eaten as vegetables or fed to animals. They are highly nutritious, being a good source of vitamins and minerals. They are particularly rich in calcium, iron, strontium, ascorbigen and ascorbic acid and also considered to one of the richest source of vitamin A. The leaves can constitute a good suppliment to diets consisting mainly of rice. The leaves of radish are a good source for the extraction of protiens on a commercial scale.

Radish seeds contains sulphoraphene that exhibit antibacterial activity, against Streptococcus, pyococus, Pneumococus and Escherichia coli. Another sulphur containing oil, raphanin has been separated from the acqueous extract of the seeds. It is active against several gram +ve and gram -ve bacteria. The seeds also contain a broad spectrum of antibiotics named machrolysin, specific against Mycrobacterium tuberculosis. Radish seeds are potential source of a non-drying fatty oil (av yield 30 - 50%) suitable for soap making, illuminating and edible purposes.


Radish is credited with refreshing and deprative properties.Radish preparation is useful in liver and gall bladder troubles. In homeopathym, they are used for neuralgic headaches, sleeplessness and chronic diarrhea; roots, leaves, flowers and pods are active against gram +ve bacteria. The roots are useful in urinary complaints, piles and gastrodynia. A salt extracted from the roots dried and burnt to while ash is used in stomach troubles. The juice of fresh leaves is used as diuretic and laxatives. The seeds are said to be peptic, expectorant, diuretic and carmminative.