Antioxidant Activity of Some Edible Yemeni Plants Evaluated by Ferrylmyoglobin/ABTS.+ Assay

Abstract

The antioxidant activity, expressed in mM Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), of some edible Yemeni plants belonging to different families was evaluated using the ferrylmyoglobin/ABTS.+ method. Methanolic (80%) extracts of tested plants exhibited higher (p<0.05) TEAC than extracts of other solvents. Extracts of coffee beans (Coffea arabica), sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum) and sorrel (Rumex acetosa) had antioxidant activities equivalent to 8.7-47.1 mM Trolox or 7.9-42.8 mM BHA per g dry weight of plant. The TEAC of methanolic extracts for sorrel was not significantly different (p>0.05) from extracts of Leucaena leucocephala (Thailand) and Japanese green tea (Camellia sinensis). A good correlation (R2=0.937) was observed between TEAC and total phenol contents in 80% methanol extracts of tested plants.