This study evaluated the efficacy of various organic solvents (80% acetone, 80% ethanol, 80% methanol) and distilled water for extracting antioxidant phenolic compounds from turmeric, curry leaf, ...torch ginger and lemon grass extracts. They were analyzed regarding the total phenol and flavonoid contents, antioxidant activity and concentration of some phenolic compounds. Antioxidant activity was determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Quantification of phenolic compounds was carried out using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). All the extracts possessed antioxidant activity, however, the different solvents showed different efficiencies in the extraction of phenolic compounds. Turmeric showed the highest DPPH values (67.83-13.78%) and FRAP (84.9-2.3 mg quercetin/g freeze-dried crude extract), followed by curry leaf, torch ginger and lemon grass. While 80% acetone was shown to be the most efficient solvent for the extraction of total phenolic compounds from turmeric, torch ginger and lemon grass (221.68, 98.10 and 28.19 mg GA/g freeze dried crude extract, respectively), for the recovery of phenolic compounds from curry leaf (92.23 mg GA/g freeze-dried crude extract), 80% ethanol was the most appropriate solvent. Results of HPLC revealed that the amount of phenolic compounds varied depending on the types of solvents used.
Natural antioxidants in spices and herbs have attracted considerable attention as potential inhibitors against the formation of mutagenic heterocyclic amines (HCAs) in heat-processed meat. In this ...study, the inhibitory activity of four spices/herbs and their mixtures on HCAs formation in grilled beef were examined. A simplex centroid mixture design with four components comprising turmeric, curry leaf, torch ginger and lemon grass in 19 different proportions were applied on beef samples before grilling at 240 ºC for 10 min. The HCAs were extracted from the samples using solid phase extraction (SPE) method and analysed using Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry LC-MS/MS. All spices/herbs in single or mixture forms were found to reduce total HCA concentrations in marinated grilled beef ranging from 21.2% for beef marinated with curry leaf to 94.7% for the combination of turmeric and lemon grass (50:50 w/w). At the optimum marinade formula (turmeric: lemon grass 52.4%: 47.6%), concentration of 2-amino-3-methylimidazo4,5-fquinolone (IQ), 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo4,5-bpyridine (PhIP), Harman, Norharman and AαC were 2.2, 1.4, 0.5, 2.8 and 1.2 ng/g, respectively. The results of the mutagenic activity demonstrated that this optimised marinade formula significantly (p < 0.05) diminished mutagenicity of marinated grilled beef in bacterial Ames test.