Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Larrea divaricata Cav. aqueous extract on vitamin C from natural orange juice.

PATRICIA MICUCCI; ROSARIO ALONSO; SEBASTIAN TURNER; DAVICINO ROBERTO; CLAUDIA ANESINI

Food and Nuricional Sciences

Scientific research

Lugar: Irvine; Año: 2011 vol. 2 p. 35 - 46

2157-9458

Larrea divaricata Cav. is a South American plant widely distributed in Argentina with reported antioxidant and antimicrobialactivities. Vitamin C (Vit C) the most important water-soluble antioxidant, is degraded upon factors such asoxygen, heat, light, storage time and temperature, during cooking and in presence of microorganisms. The aim of thiswork was: to study the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of an aqueous extract of L. divaricata (E) on Vit C preparedin water and on Vit C from natural orange juice, submitted to different store conditions such as temperatures andoxygen. The antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH method and used to obtained the relative Vit C concentration;Vit C decreased its activity and concentration under temperature and air oxygen, but E allowed Vit C to recoverits antioxidant activity and prevented Vit C microorganism contamination. These studies were performed in view to establishwhether L. divaricata can be used as a supplement on orange juices capable to prevent Vit C decay and microbialgrowth.