CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Food industries are looking for natural antioxidant to replace synthetic because these last ones are ques-tioned due to healthy reasons. Essential oils are natural products that can have antioxidant activity, buttheir composition and antioxidant activity could change for thermal storage condition. The objective ofthis study was to evaluate the antioxidant effect and thermal stability of rosemary, oregano and laurelessential oils (EO). The major components of the essential oils were terpineol (E) Beta (55.5%), terpinen-4-ol (15.9%), and thymol (12.9%) in oregano; camphor (35.7%), verbenone (26.6%), and -caryophyllene(15.8%) in rosemary EO; and linalool (45.0%), sabinene (31.9%), and methyl eugenol (14.3%) in laurel EO.The volatile composition of the EO changed during the thermal stability study. The antioxidant activity ofthe essential oils was analyzed measuring free-radical scavenging activity (FRSA) and total phenolic con-tent; and performing a storage study of sunflower oil measuring the formation of peroxide and volatileoxidation compounds. The FRSA showed that laurel (61.74%), oregano (59.97%), and rosemary (48.23%)EOs showed better percentage inhibitions than BHT (8.76%). In the storage study of sunflower oil, sam-ples with 0.10% oregano EO, 0.02% oregano EO, 0.02% laurel EO, and 0.10% rosemary EO showed betterantioxidant properties, exhibiting less peroxide and anisidine values during storage. Also, 0.02% oreganoEO in the storage study showed reduced formation of volatile compounds like hexanal, 2-heptenal, and2,4-decadienal. The studied EOs have antioxidant activity and constitute natural potential agents thatcould be used as antioxidants in food products. Also, the studied EOs are compounds that change underhigh temperature conditions during storage, which could affect their potential antioxidant activity