INVESTIGATING THE ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES OF IRANIAN CHILI PEPPER EXTRACT

Stress oxidative factors are known to causes diseases resulting from metabolic disorders. Therefore, preventing, or at least decreasing the amount of these factors may have a positive impact on prevention or improvement of the metabolic problems. Recently, the herbal medicines are more considered due to more effectiveness. The application of synthetic antioxidants has been reduced recently due to their adverse effects on human health. The present research aims at evaluating the antioxidant power of chili pepper. Some solvents such as water, ethanol and water-ethanol solution, with or without ultrasound wave application, are used to provide the chili pepper extracts. The amount of tocopherol and phenol compounds in the extracts has been measured using stoichiometry method and the antioxidant power of the extracts was measured and analyzed by beta-carotene and DPPH tests. Finally, the extracts’ oxidative stability was determined. The data was statically analyzed by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Duncan Multiple Range Test. The P level of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The results showed that the amount of phenol compounds in terms of Gallic acid in different extracts are between 1066.3 and 1172.27 mg/kg, and the amount of tocopherol compounds in terms of alpha-tocopherol is between 693.52 and 867.65 mg/ml. the oxidative stability index in different extracts was between 5.55 and 7.23 hours. The inhibitory percentage of Linoleic acid oxidation in the extract varied between 57.2 and 83.6%, and the inhibitory percentage of DPPH radicals in different extracts varied between 71.33 and 91.87%. The maximum and minimum efficiency for phenol and tocopherol compound extraction were obtained using ethanol and water solvents, respectively. With a high antioxidant power, chili pepper can find a wide application in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.