International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), Acta Horticulturae, 841, p. 507-510, 2009
DOI: 10.17660/actahortic.2009.841.70
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Methanol extracts from leaves and pulps from male, female, and hermaphrodite carob trees were investigated for their in vitro radical-scavenging activity (RSA), measured by the 1.1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, and for the antioxidant activity (AA) by beta-carotene-linoleate bleaching method. The leaf extracts exhibited high AA and RSA comparable or higher to that of pure phenol compounds. Pulp extracts exhibited weaker activities, and the gender significantly affected the AA, which was higher in extracts from males (leaves) and hermaphrodites (leaves and pulps). These results suggest that pulps and leaves from carob tree are a possible source of natural antioxidants, and thus, good candidates to be used as a functional food or food ingredient.