A Comparative Evaluation of the Antioxidant Activity of Some Medicinal Plants Popularly Used in India

The methanolic crude extracts of some commonly used medical plants were screened for their free radical scavenging properties using ascorbic acid as standard antioxidant. Free radical scavenging activity was evaluated using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical. The overall antioxidant activity of green tea (Camellia sinensis linn.) was the strongest, follows in descending order by black tea (Camellia sinesis linn.), Eugenia caryophyllus (spreng), Piper cubeba linn., Zea mays and Piper nigrum,. All the methanolic extracts exhibited antioxidant activity significantly. The IC₅₀ of the methanolic extracts ranged between 6.7±0.1 and 144.1±2.2 and that of ascorbic acid was 8.9±0.1μg/ml. the study reveals that the consumption of these spices would exert several beneficial effects by virtue of their antioxidant activity.