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Total Phenolics of Virgin Olive Oils Highly Correlate with the Hydrogen Atom Transfer Mechanism of Antioxidant Capacity

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society

Abstract

Polar extracts of extra-virgin olive oils (EVOO) contain a large number of phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties. The antioxidant capacity can be measured by different reaction mechanisms, as the single electron transfer (SET) or the hydrogen atom transfer (HAT). In this work, the total phenolic content (TPC) by the Folin-Ciocalteu method and its correlation with four antioxidant capacity assays (FRAP, ABTS, DPPH• and ORAC) were evaluated for EVOO polar extracts. It was observed that the higher the total phenolic compounds in the EVOO extracts, the higher the antioxidant capacities, regardless of the method employed. The reaction mechanism observed for TPC by Folin-Ciocalteu method and also for FRAP, ABTS and DPPH• antioxidant capacity assays is a single electron transfer, thus, a high correlation among their results is expected. However, the correlation between TPC and ORAC results was also high and significant, allowing to conclude that EVOO phenolic compounds are able to react by the hydrogen atom transfer mechanism, which indicates that they can act as effective radical chain-breaking antioxidants. These results suggest that, for the EVOO polar extracts, TPC by Folin-Ciocalteu and ORAC assays could be sufficient to evaluate their in vitro antioxidant capacity.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank FAPESP–Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (processes 08/57548-0 and 13/25242-7), CNPq–Coordenação Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (process 140965/2010-6) and CAPES–Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, for their financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Rua Monteiro Lobato 80, Campinas, SP, 13083-862, Brazil

    Cristiano Augusto Ballus, Adriana Dillenburg Meinhart, Francisco Alberto de Souza Campos Jr. & Helena Teixeira Godoy

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  1. Cristiano Augusto Ballus
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  2. Adriana Dillenburg Meinhart
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  3. Francisco Alberto de Souza Campos Jr.
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  4. Helena Teixeira Godoy
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Correspondence to Cristiano Augusto Ballus or Helena Teixeira Godoy.

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Ballus, C.A., Meinhart, A.D., de Souza Campos, F.A. et al. Total Phenolics of Virgin Olive Oils Highly Correlate with the Hydrogen Atom Transfer Mechanism of Antioxidant Capacity. J Am Oil Chem Soc 92, 843–851 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-015-2629-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-015-2629-0

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