ARS | Publication request: ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF FLORIDA’S TROPICAL FRUIT

Submitted to: Subtropical Technology Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: September 12, 2005
Publication Date: October 20, 2005
Citation: Mahattanatawee, K., Manthey, J.A., Talcott, S., Goodner, K.L., Baldwin, E.A. 2005. Antioxidant activity of Florida’s tropical fruit. Subtropical Technology Conference Proceedings. 56:16-17.

Technical Abstract: There is evidence for beneficial roles of fruit and vegetables in the human diet providing protection against cellular damage caused by exposure to high levels of free radicals. Radical scavengers have attracted special interest because they can protect the human body from free radicals that may cause many diseases, including cancer, and contribute to the aging process (Ames et al. 1993). Fruits contain many different antioxidant compounds (i.e. vitamin C and E, carotenoids and phenolic compounds), that serve as radical scavengers and it is relatively difficult to measure each antioxidant component separately. Therefore, the total antioxidant activity levels were measured directly from fruit extracts. Recently, several methods have been developed to measure total antioxidant activity, based on different reaction mechanisms. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate whether different methods can provide comparable antioxidant values for the same sample. It has been reported that the contributions of phenolic compounds to antioxidant activities were much greater than those of vitamin C and carotenoids, therefore total phenolics were also assayed. The objective of this study was to determine the radical quenching activity of tropical fruit extract and the total phenolics. Two methods were used to test the antioxidant activity of tropical fruit including one based on the evaluation of the radical scavenging capacity by using the free radical DPPH, and the other based on the peroxyl radical scavenging activity (ORAC). Since different ethnic groups prefer different maturity stages of some fruits, like mango and papaya, both ripe and “green” stages were assayed.