Whole Orange Powder as A Rich Source of Polyphenols, Flavonoids and Antioxidants

Orange Powder: Source of Polyphenols, Flavonoids and Antioxidants

Abstract

On a global scale, consumers’ faith in dietary therapy for illness remediation has been bolstered by health claims for phytochemical-containing foods, including fruits and vegetables. Thanks to their antioxidant capabilities and chemical variety, polyphenols gave dietary supplements and nutraceuticals new life. Objectives: To investigate the antioxidant activity and phytochemicals (TPC and TFC) of the entire orange powder while extracted in water, ethanol and methanol. Methods: Each extract was tested for its total flavonoid composition using the aluminium chloride technique and its total polyphenolic content using the Folin reagent. The DPPH test was used to measure the antioxidant activity. Results: Results demonstrated that whole orange powder water extract had the lowest total phenolic content values (167.2 ± 3.3 mg GAE/g), flavonoids (35.8 ± 0.2 mg QE/g) whereas methanol extracts displayed the highest values (350.8 ± 6.3mg GAE/g; 72.5 ± 2.2 mg QE/g) and ethanol extracts showed the moderate values (283.4 ± 5.2 mg GAE/g; 57.4 ± 1.8mg QE/g) respectively. At a concentration of 20-100μg/ml, the methanol extract had the greatest antioxidant% inhibition value, 38.50 ± 1.3-87.67 ± 2.4%, followed by the ethanol extract (28.70 ± 1.1-65.40 ± 2.1%) whereas the water extract had the lowest antioxidant% inhibition value, 17.95±0.3-52.25 ± 1.6% and it showed a statistically significant difference values (p<0.05) among the extracts. Conclusions: It was concluded that the antioxidant levels, polyphenols and flavonoids in whole orange powder were strongly affected by the solvent type employed for extraction, with methanol being the solvent of choice.