Comparison of scavenging capacities of vegetables by ORAC and EPR

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered to be causative agents of many health problems. In spite of this, the radical-specific scavenging capacities of food samples have not been well studied. In the present work, we have developed an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spin trapping method for analysis of the scavenging capacities of food samples for multiple ROS, utilising the same photolysis procedure for generating each type of radical. The optimal conditions for effective evaluation of hydroxyl, superoxide, and alkoxyl radical scavenging capacity were determined. Quantification of radical adducts was found to be highly reproducible, with variations of less than 4%. The optimised EPR spin trapping method was used to analyse the scavenging capacities of 54 different vegetable extracts for multiple radicals, and the results were compared with oxygen radical absorption capacity values. Good correlations between the two methods were observed for superoxide and alkoxyl radicals, but not for hydroxyl.