Antioxidant Capacity of Tea and Common Vegetables

AntioxidantCapacity of Tea and Common Vegetables

(Reprint)

CavGH, Sofic E, Prior RL

ANews Extract from Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

44:(11) 3426-3431 Nov. 1996

Basedon the fresh weight of the vegetable, garlic had the highest antioxidantactivity against peroxyl radicals (19.4) followed by kale (17.7), spinach(12.6), Brussels sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, broccoli flowers, beets, redbell pepper, onion, corn, eggplant (9.8-3.9) cauliflower, potato, sweet potato,cabbage, leaf lettuce, string bean, carrot, yellow squash, iceberg lettuce,celery, and cucumber (3.8-0.5).

Kalehad the highest antioxidant activity against hydroxyl radicals followed byBrussels sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, beets, spinach, broccoli flowers, and theothers.

Previously,some fruits were shown to contain high antioxidant activities. This paper reported the antioxidant activities of 22 common vegetables,one green tea and one black tea, measured using the automated oxygen radicalabsorbance capacity assay with three different reactive species: a peroxylradical generator, a hydroxyl radical generator, and CU2+, a transition metal.

Thegreen and black teas had much higher antioxidant activities against peroxylradicals than all these vegetables.  However,the tea also showed a prooxidant activity in the presence of CU2+, which was notfound with any of the vegetables studied.