58-3 |
Evaluation of buckwheat as a source of natural antioxidants |
T. SUN and C. T. Ho. Dept. of Food Science, Rutgers, The State Univ. of New Jersey, 65 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901 General public concerns the safety of synthetic antioxidants, such as BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and TBHQ (tertiary butylhydroquinone). Therefore, there is a great interest among researchers to replace synthetic antioxidants with natural ones in the food system. The extracts of buckwheat exerted antioxidant ability, which can be affected by the extracting solvents. Our object was to evaluate the antioxidative properties of crude extracts isolated from buckwheat by different polarity solvents and compare it with the artificial antioxidants. Solvents of different polarity, such as acetone, butanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate and methanol, were used to obtain the extracts. The yield of extracts was calculated. Total phenol in the extracts was determined. The antioxidation ability was evaluated by the b-carotene bleaching assay, the 2,2-diphenyl-b-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging method and Rancimat method. Results showed that the yield and antioxidant activity of natural extracts of buckwheat were closely dependent on the solvent used. Methanol and ethanol extraction had higher yield than the other solvents. Antioxidant activity of extracts from buckwheat increased when more polar solvents were used for extraction. The ethanol soluble from buckwheat presented antioxidant activity similar to that of synthetic antioxidants. These results suggested the potential application of buckwheat extract as natural antioxidants in food and possibly phytopharmaceutical products.
Session 58, Food Chemistry: Lipids, Emulsions and Antioxidants
|