Antioxidative activity of three herbal water extracts

The antioxidative activity of water extracts of three herbs, including the flower of Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat (FCMR), the calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (CHSL) and roasted seed of Hordeum vulgare L. (RSHVL), which are commonly called Hang Chu, Lo Shen and Chao Mai in Taiwan, respectively, were investigated. FCMR, CHSL and RSHVL showed marked antioxidative activity, not only in linoleic acid but also in liposome model systems, indicating that the three herbal water extracts may protect the cell from damage by lipid peroxidation. FCMR, CHSL and RSHVL possessed high contents of phenolic compounds and exhibited reducing power, revealing that these herbal extracts may contain reductones. The water extracts of the three herbs also showed good hydrogen-donating abilities, indicating that they had effective activities as radical scavengers. No mutagenicity in the water extracts of the three herbs was found in Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100, either with or without S9 mix. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.