Antioxidant activities of aqueous extracts of selected plants

The antioxidant properties of 25 edible tropical plants, expressed as Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), were studied using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical) scavenging and reducing ferric ion antioxidant potential (FRAP) assays. Their cupric ion chelating activities (CCA) and total polyphenol contents (TPC) were also determined. A strong correlation between TEAC values obtained for the DPPH assay (TEACDPPH) and those for the FRAP assay (TEACFRAP) implied that compounds in the extracts were capable of scavenging the DPPH free radical and reducing ferric ions. A satisfactory correlation of TPC with TEACDPPH and TEACFRAP suggested that polyphenols in the extracts were partly responsible for the antioxidant activities while its correlation with CCA was poor, indicating that polyphenols might not be the main cupric ion chelators. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that TEACDPPH, TEACFRAP and TPC contributed to the total variation in the antioxidant activities of the plants.