Chestnut flower has been a well-known Chinese traditional medicine to be consumed for clearing heat and intestinal infectious diseases. It is necessary to characterize them in accordance to nutritional value into sources of bioactive nutraceuticals with potential health benefits. The purpose of this study is to obtain the phytonutrient facts, phytochemical antioxidant capacity and antitumor activities from five common Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) flower cultivars. The results obtained exhibit some significant difference among the five cultivars. Zipo genus shows highest total flavonoids contents (85.1 ± 3.6 mgRE/gdm) and protein contents (4.28%), while the one with highest total phenolic content (126.4 ± 0.8 mgGAE/gdm) and total sugar (5.08%) is Yanlong. As for mineral compositions, Zipo genus shows a higher content of Ca, Fe and Cu, while Yanlong outperforms in the content of Zn and Mn. Phytochemical profiling revealed eight compounds belonging to the phenolic acids and flavonoids. Gallic acid and quercetin are the two major compounds of phenolics in all five cultivars. The Chinese chestnut flower cultivars with high phytonutrient content has significantly higher antioxidant and anti-tumor abilities than that of other cultivars. Total flavonoids content and total phenolic content could bring large benefit to antioxidant and anti-tumor activity.

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