Total antioxidant activity and radical scavenging capacity of selected fruits and vegetables from South India

The objective of this present study was to analyse and compare the total antioxidant activity and radical scavenging capacity of selected fruits and vegetables from south India. The selected fruits and vegetables such as mulberries, papaya, red grapes, mango, guava, tomato, red onion, red cauliflower, carrot and beetroot were used in this study. The selected fruits and vegetables showed a high variation in content of total ascorbic acid (ranged from 10.83 to 68.71 mg/100 g fresh weight (FW)); total phenolics (ranged from 26.57 to 57.64 mg/ 100 g FW) and total flavonoids (ranged from 2.49 to 12.69 mg/100 g FW). Total antioxidant capacity of the selected fruits and vegetables were ranged from 31.21 to 61.11 mg/100 g FW. The higher levels of radical scavenging capacity were observed in beetroot, red onion, red cauliflower, red grapes and mulberries as compared to other fruits and vegetables (P < 0.05). Papaya and guava had moderate levels of radical scavenging capacity (P < 0.05). On the other hand, mango and tomato obtained low levels of radical scavenging capacity (P < 0.05). The overall, pigmented fruits and vegetables in this study contained the higher levels of antioxidant and radical scavenging capacity.