Comparative Study of Different Spices and Herbs Total Antioxidant Capacity by Employing Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) Assay

Abstract

Natural antioxidants extracted from spices and herbs are reported to be effective ininhibiting oxidation due to the anti-oxidant compounds they contain. However the use ofthese natural antioxidants are limited mainly due to lack of proven evidence of thepotential they have. A comparative study on the total antioxidant capacity of 12 spicesand herbs collected in the market places of Ethiopia and Belgium was analyzed usingFRAP assay .The study demonstrated that there is more than 1000-fold difference amongtotal antioxidant capacity between spices and herbs. Among the studied spices and herbs,the highest antioxidant capacity was found in clove followed by cinnamon androsemary. Furthermore a two-fold variation in FRAP value was observed between thesame spice of different origin.