Polyphenols content and antioxidant activity of paprika and pepper spices

Abstract

Paprika spices (Capsicium annuum) and black pepper spices (Piper nigrum) are very popular seasonings for culinary and industrial utilization due to the change of sensory quality (taste, aroma, color) of foods and meals with their addition; their health promoting properties; and also, relevant antioxidant activity. Polyphenols are often responsible for the antioxidant capacity of plant products therefore in our study the content of polyphenols (TP) and antioxidant activity (TAA) were assessed in two common culinary spices -paprika spices (12, ground powder spices) and pepper spices (20, unground and ground, black, green, white and colored spices) of Czech, Austrian, and Slovak producers. These parameters were determined using spectrometric method, for total polyphenols method with Folin-Ciocaulteu reagent; the antioxidant activity (TAA) of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of spices was measured by DPPH method with IC50 evaluation. For paprika the total polyphenol content ranged from 14.67 to 28.78 mg GAE.g -1 . However, there is only weak connection between the pungency of the spices and the polyphenolic amount, the hotter samples of paprika spices have slightly higher values of TP than sweet types. Also, more pungent paprika products showed a higher potency in scavenging of DPPH free radical than sweeter ones; and ethanolic extracts had slightly ethanolic extracts respectively. The highest TAA values were observed for white ground pepper and unground black pepper spices. Unground black pepper samples had higher TAA than ground black pepper. The extent of antioxidant activity of paprika and pepper spices was quite similar. The total phenolics contents in spices were correlated to antioxidant activity only slightly.

The influence of genotype and season on the biological potential of chilli pepper cultivars

“…Peppers are an excellent source of antioxidants such as flavonoids, capsaicinoids, vitamin C and carotenoids (Russo, 2012;Škrovánková et al, 2017). In comparison with other species of vegetable, peppers are among those with the highest antioxidant activity (Halvorsen et al, 2002).…”

Edible treatments of Capsicum extracts inactivate the microbial contaminations to improve the quality of fresh‐cut bell pepper ( Capsicum annuum L. var. grossum (L.) Sendt)

“…In contrast, the samples stored at 4°C showed a high level of phenolic content due to the leaching mechanism (PC: 1.69 ± 0.24‒0th day to 2.44 ± 0.02‒12th day; FC: 0.045 ± 0.001‒0th day to 0.019 ± 0.01‒12th day). Škrovánková et al (2017) documented that C. annuum sample had a high amount of phenolic compounds compared to flavonoid content (Škrovánková et al., 2017). Taken together, it could be suggested that there is no positive effect in withstanding the phytoconstituent levels with NaOCl treatment.…”

Comparative Evaluation of Color Stability of Nanohybrid Direct and Indirect Resin-based Composites to Indian Spices: An In Vitro Study

“…The total polyphenols of analyzed paprika spices ranged from 14.67 mg/GAE. 19 The color stainability in paprika is because of the presence of polyphenols and the pigments such as capsanthin, capsorubin, and β-carotene. The present study shows that paprika stains less when compared to turmeric and saffron, owing to its less polyphenolic content.…”