• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2014

This study was designed to investigate the in vitro antioxidant potentials and the antioxidant components of 80% ethanolic extracts prepared from five edible spring flowers. The contents of total phenols (14.1-18.9 mg gallic acid equivalents/g of dry weight; DW), flavonoids (0.3-4.9 mg catechin equivalents), total carotenoids ($1.9-578.1{\mu}g$ ${\beta}$-carotene equivalents), and proanthocyanidins (2.8-23.5 mg catechin equivalents), were determined by spectrophotometry. In addition, the content of ascorbic acid (0.71-1.31 mg) was determined using HPLC with UV detection. All varieties of the flower examined showed antioxidant potential (1.2-46.1 mM Trolox equivalents/g DW), which was measured by the radical scavenging activity and the reducing power. Of the five flowers analyzed, Prunus avium L. showed the highest antioxidant activity. A strong correlation was found between the ascorbic acid ($r^2=0.75$), flavonoids ($r^2=0.71$), and total phenolic content ($r^2=0.64$) and the antioxidant parameters, suggesting that these components are likely significant contributors to the antioxidant capacity of the five spring flowers.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.460-469
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• 2017

The aim of this work was to study the comparison of anti-oxidative activity in a single serving size of commercial coffees and teas. Commercial regular coffees and teas, including, brand regular coffees ($BC_A$, $BC_B$, $BC_C$, $BC_D$, and $BC_E$), green tea ($GT_A$, $GT_B$, $GT_C$, and $GT_D$), black tea ($BT_A$, $BT_B$, and $BT_C$), pu-erh tea ($PT_A$, $PT_B$, and $PT_C$), chamomile tea ($CT_A$, $CT_B$, and $CT_C$), peppermint tea ($P_A$, $P_B$, and $P_C$), polygonatum odoratum tea ($POT_A$, $POT_B$, and $POT_C$), and jujube tea ($JT_A$, $JT_B$, and $JT_C$) were assayed for the levels of ascorbic acid, caffeine, total content of polyphenols and flavonoids, and ability to scavenge free radicals, using two in vitro antioxidant assays. The scavenging abilities of $BC_A$ and $BC_C$ were $664.91{\pm}48.87mg$ ascorbic acid equivalent/serving size and $624.36{\pm}16.18mg$ ascorbic acid equivalent/serving size, respectively. The four beverage samples ($BC_A$, $BC_C$, $GT_D$, and $BT_A$) significantly reduced the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and intracellular oxidative stress induced by $H_2O_2$. These results suggest that the beverages possess significant radical scavenging ability, which may be due to the presence of antioxidants. Furthermore, the significant reducing level of ROS evidences the potential antioxidant effects of these beverages in human cells.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.358-365
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• 2011

Lespedeza cuneata G. Don is a plant commonly grown in Asian countries, which has been widely used as an oriental medicinal herb to treat diabetes, diarrhea and various other inflammatory diseases. The phenolics of dry leaves of L. cuneata G. Don were extracted by using 80% (v/v) aqueous methanol in assistance with homogenization and sonification. The phenolic extract and its five different fractions (n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and water) were used to evaluate the levels of total phenolics, total flavonoids, and antioxidant capacity as well as the inhibitory effect of tyrosinase activity. Ethyl acetate fraction (1 g) had the highest levels of total phenolics at 240.8 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE), total flavonoids as 90.4 mg catechin equivalents (CE) as well as antioxidant capacity at 523.4 mg vitamin C equivalents (VCE) on ABTS assay and 329.5 mg VCE on DPPH assay among fractions. One g of water fraction contained total phenolics at 133.1 mg GAE, total flavonoids at 34.5 mg CE, and antioxidant capacity at 333.4 mg VCE for ABTS assay and 313.2 mg VCE for DPPH assay. Inhibition of tyrosinase activity of water fraction at 300 ${\mu}g{\cdot}mL^{-1}$ was at 47.2% and 21.1% for L-tyrosine and L-DOPA as its substrate, respectively. On the other hand, ethyl acetate fraction at 300 ${\mu}g{\cdot}mL^{-1}$ showed tyrosinase inhibition of 10.2% for L-tyrosine and 11.9% for L-DOPA. These results suggested that the phenolics from dry leaves of L. cuneata G. Don may be utilized as a potent source of antioxidants and skin whitening agents.