Antioxidant Activity and Polyphenol Content of Bulgarian Fruits

P. DENEV¹, A. LOJEK², M. CIZ² and M. KRATCHANOVA^1
1 Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry, Laboratory of Biologically Active Substances, BG - 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
² Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 135, Brno-612 65, Czech Republic

Abstract

DENEV, P., A. LOJEK, M. CIZ and M. KRATCHANOVA, 2013. Antioxidant activity and polyphenol content of Bulgarian fruits. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 19: 22-27

 

The antioxidant activity of 26 Bulgarian fruits was measured by the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) method. The total polyphenol content of the samples was investigated as well. Results varied considerably among the analyzed samples. Based on fresh weight, fruits of the elderberry (Sambucus nigra) showed the highest antioxidant capacity (205.4 ±15.2 μmol TE.g^-1), followed by brier (Rosa canina) (201.1 ± 14.6 μmol TE.g^-1), chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) (160.8 ± 4.8 μmol TE.g^-1) and hawthorn (Crataegus mollis) (153.6 ± 9.1 μmol TE.g^-1). There was a good linear correlation between OR AC antioxidant capacity and polyphenol content, indicating that polyphenols are the major contributors to the antioxidant activity of the investigated fruits.

Key words: antioxidant activity, OR AC, polyphenols, fruits
Abbreviations: FL – Fluorescein; FW – Fresh Weight; ORAC – Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity; RNS – Reactive Nitrogen Species; ROS – Reactive Oxygen Species; TE – Trolox Equivalents

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