Antioxidant properties and phytochemical composition of China-grown pomegranate seeds

Pu Jing; Tian Ye; Haiming Shi; Yi Sheng; Margaret Slavin; Boyan Gao; Linwei Liu; Liangli Lucy Yu

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.12.002

Antioxidant properties and phytochemical composition of China-grown pomegranate seeds

Food Chem. 2012 Jun 1;132(3):1457-1464. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.12.002. Epub 2011 Dec 9.

Authors

Pu Jing¹, Tian Ye¹, Haiming Shi¹, Yi Sheng¹, Margaret Slavin², Boyan Gao¹, Linwei Liu³, Liangli Lucy Yu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Food Safety and Nutrition, Key Lab of Urban Agriculture (South), Bor S. Luh Food Safety Research Center, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
² Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA.
³ College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Shannxi 712100, China.
⁴ Research Center for Food Safety and Nutrition, Key Lab of Urban Agriculture (South), Bor S. Luh Food Safety Research Center, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China; Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: lyu5@umd.edu.

PMID: 29243636
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.12.002

Abstract

Four cultivars of Shanxi-grown pomegranate seeds were investigated for their phytochemical composition and antioxidant properties. Pomegranate seed oils were extracted and analysed for their fatty acid profiles, and tocopherol and carotenoid contents. The defatted flours were extracted with 50% acetone or 80% methanol, and evaluated for levels of phenolics, flavonoids and proanthocyanidins, and scavenging capacities against DPPH and ABTS⁺ and their ferric ion reducing abilities. Pomegranate seed oil was rich in punicic acid (73.5-78.8g/100g oil) and total tocopherols (5.3-12.0μmol/g). The 50% acetone and 80% methanol were appropriate solvents for extraction of total phenolic and total flavonoid, respectively. The four cultivars were significantly different in levels of phenolics, flavonoids, proanthocyanidins and their antioxidant properties (P<0.05), generally flowing an order: Suanshiliu>Tianhongdan>Sanbaitian≈Jingpitian. This study will assist in the cultivar selection of the above pomegranate seeds for commercial production to meet the market demand.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Conjugated linolenic acid; Phenolics; Pomegranate seed; Tocopherol.