Antioxidant and antigenotoxic effect of dairy products supplemented with red ginseng extract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and antigenotoxic effect of dairy products milk (M) and yogurt (Y) after the addition of 2% red ginseng extract to milk (RM) and to yogurt (RY). Total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity, oxygen radical absorbance capacity, and total radical trapping antioxidant potential were determined in the samples. Furthermore, antigenotoxic effect of samples was measured, using comet assay in human leukocytes. Total phenolic content and total flavonoid content of RM [38.3 ± 0.8 mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 g, 23.6 ± 0.1 mg of quercetin equivalents (QE)/100 g] and RY (41.1 ± 0.9 mg of GAE/100 g, 18.7 ± 0.1 mg of QE/100 g), respectively, were higher than those of M (6.31 ± 0.2 mg of GAE/100 g, 10.4 ± 0.1 mg of QE/100 g) and Y (8.1 ± 0.9 mg of GAE/100 g, 8.4 ± 0.2 mg of QE/100 g), respectively. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity and oxygen radical absorbance capacity values increased significantly after the addition of 2% red ginseng in both. Additionally, the total radical trapping antioxidant potential in RM (787.7 ± 7.0 μg/mL) was lower than in M (2074.0 ± 28.4 μg/mL). The H₂O₂-induced DNA damage in RY (0.1 ± 0.0 mg/mL) was less than the damage in Y (0.4 ± 0.0 mg/mL), but we found no significant difference between M and RM. This study indicates that supplementation with red ginseng can fortify the antioxidant and antigenotoxic effects of dairy products effectively.