Antioxidant properties of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of tara (Caesalpinia spinosa) pods in vitro and in model food emulsions

Abstract

The successful replacement of some synthetic food antioxidants by safe natural antioxidants has fostered intensive search for new vegetable sources of antioxidants. In our study the phenol and flavonoid content of extracts of tara pods was determined. The antioxidant activity was also studied by three different analytical assays: the measurement of scavenging capacity against a radical ABTS + , the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP).