The Antioxidant Capacity of Polyphenol Extract from Tea Seed Oil

Abstract

Tea seed oil polyphenols are the one particular class of antioxidants and nowadays have been attracted as the popular cooking oils to help protect cells from oxidative damage. However, it has never been a scientific report to clarify their polyphenol antioxidative activity. Thus, this research was designed to study not only polyphenols and catechin contents in tea seed oil but also its antioxidant capacity. Absolutes polyphenol compounds were obtained by sequential solvent-extraction (methanol, petroleum ether and ethyl acetate). An ethyl acetate-extracted product was further investigated on its antioxidant capacity by ABTS assay using Trolox as the standard. Its polyphenol content was measured by an oxidation-reduction (Folin-Ciocalteu) method using gallic acid as the standard. Catechin in the polyphenol extract was analyzed by using HPLC method. The results showed that an antioxidant capacity of the polyphenol extract was 4.21 mM Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) per gram of extract. Polyphenol content in the extract was 0.748 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE) per gram of extract. In addition, catechin content in the polyphenol extract was 85.51 μg/mg. Thus, this results support our hypothesis that an antioxidant activity in tea seed oil might be come from phenolic compounds especially catechin.

Key words: Tea seed oil, Antioxidant, Polyphenols, Catechin