Antioxidant Medicinal Property of Some Indian Spices and Herb Extracts

Antioxidants are the compounds able to delay, retard or prevent oxidation processes. Essential oils and other Plant Secondary Metabolites (PSMs) of many plants besides having a strong and pleasant aroma, possess bio-active antioxidant property. A variety of free radical scavenging antioxidants are found in dietary sources like fruits, vegetables, aromatic herbs, spices etc. Plant-based antioxidant constituents acts as radical scavengers, and helps in converting the radicals to less reactive species. The antioxidant role of aromatic principles also have medicinal effects and thus when included in regular diet, contributes to the long term health by reducing the risk of chronic and degenerative diseases and preventing cellular damage. The present research work is an effort to find the health benefits associated with the consumption of spices and herbs and their antioxidant/ antiradical role in our body. In the present investigation, antioxidant capacity of hexane extracts of total fifteen Indian aromatic herbs and spices was tested. The antioxidant activity screening for Total Phenol Content (TCP) was performed using Folin-Ciocalteau method.