Evaluation of Antioxidant Power of Stone fruits for Development of Functional Food Murtaza Imtiyaz*, Ahsan Hafiza, Laila Omi, Sharma Girish, Ali Sheikh Abid Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology Laboratory, Biochemistry Section, Division of Post Harvest Technology, S.K. University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir, 191121, India *For Correspondence - imz_murtaza@hotmail.com
Online published on 29 April, 2013. Abstract Stone fruits have been reported to possess various health promoting activities due to their high antioxidant levels. In the current study eight plum, six sweet cherry, five apricot and five peach cultivars grown in Kashmir valley of India were harvested at maturity stage and evaluated for their total antioxidants in terms of total phenols, carotenoids, anthocyanin and vitamin C content as well as their respective antioxidant activities on fresh weight basis (fw). Among the plum cultivar, “Green Gauge”, demonstrated the highest phenolic content (210mg/100g fw) as well as total antioxidant activity (476μmole/g) and in case of sweet cherries, “Siah Gole” cultivars exhibited the highest total phenol content (350mg/100g fw) and respective antioxidant activity (446μmole/g). In case of apricot, though “Quetta” variety showed the highest phenol content but “Hercott” demonstrated the highest antioxidant activity. Likewise in peach “July Elberta” possessing lesser phenol content than “Saharanpuri” cultivar showed highest antioxidant activity. Such type of results suggests that quantity of phenolic content alone does not impart high antioxidant activity to such fruits but the type of phenolic compound equally governs such characteristics. The current investigation suggests that such type of stone fruits rich in phenolic antioxidants comprises a promising functional food group to be used against various oxidative stress related diseases. Top Keywords Stone fruits, Phenolics, Vitamin C, Anthocyanin, Carotenoids, Antioxidant activity. Top |