Antioxidant activity of medicinal spices and aromatic herbs

Essential oils of many plants besides having a strong and pleasant aroma also are biologically active as an antioxidant. They have an important economic role in the medical and pharmaceutical industries, aromatherapy and cosmetology, production of natural food flavorings and as natural preservative. A variety of free radical scavenging antioxidants are found in dietary sources like fruits, vegetables, aromatic herbs, spices etc. The antioxidant role of aromatic principles also have medicinal effects and play important roles in long term health, reduction in the risk of chronic and degenerative diseases and preventing cellular damage, when included in regular diet. Considering the highly significant medicinal role of antioxidant, in the present investigation, effort is made to find out the antioxidant capacity of hexane extracts of 15 aromatic herbs and spices. Antioxidant activity screening assays implemented here is % DPPH radical scavenging activity (RSA). All the plant extracts have shown an excellent activity. The highest activity recorded in the present assay is with Ocimum sanctum extract 76.608 ± 0.063 % for DPPH radical scavenging activity.