Total phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity and toxicity of selected medicinal and aromatic plants

The importance of dietary antioxidant components for the prevention of some diseases and health quality improvement has attracted much research attention through the last decade. Vegetables and herbal infusions have been recognized as important antioxidant sources. Food industry shows significant interest in application of plant bioactive compounds for flavoring but also for preservation purposes, but attention should be given in case of high doses . In the current study were investigated the total phenolic content, the antioxidant activity and the toxicity of selected medicinal aromatic plants that are being consumed as decoctions or used as food additives

Effects of different organic anti-fungal treatments on tomato plant productivity and selected nutritional components of tomato fruit

Organic farming and horticulture require the use of more environmentally-friendly chemicals to reduce potentially harmful side-effects on producers and on consumer health. Sulphur is one of the most important natural fungicides used in organic farming to protect plants against attack by powdery mildew (Leveillula taurica). The use of natural elicitors to induce natural resistance against fungal diseases may provide an alternative to conventional treatments. In this work, we compared the effects of wettable sulphur and two elicitors (Chitoplant (R) and Milsana (R)) on the productivity and nutritional quality of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L cv. Belladonna). Both elicitors, and a conventional sulphur treatment resulted in a similar degree of protection against powdery mildew. One or more of these three treatments positively affected the concentrations of some natural phytochemicals in tomato fruit (e.g., ascorbic acid, quercetin trisaccharide, quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, beta-carotene, and potassium) compared with untreated control plants. The minimal environmental impact and absence of any negative side-effects on growers and consumer health may encourage the use of these elicitors in organic farming and horticulture

FTIR analysis and quantification of phenols and flavonoids of five commercially available plants extracts used in wound healing

ABSTRACT Natural products are used in wound healing in order to prevent infection. Propolis is a well known antimicrobial with phenolic compounds and flavonoid content which vary according to the propolis origin. Besides propolis (from both Brazilian and UK sources), pomegranate, dragon's blood and sage are possible antimicrobials to be used in biomaterials. The goal of this work was to analyze the amount of phenols and flavonoid compounds in these natural products, their antioxidant activities and the bonds present by FTIR. The FTIR analysis revealed the presence of active compounds in all drug samples. The phenols quantification showed that Brazilian propolis was rich in phenols compared to the other drugs, followed by pomegranate and UK propolis. UK propolis was the most rich in flavonoids, which is expected on account of its origin. Pomegranate, UK propolis and Dragon's blood presented the highest antioxidant activity. All samples presented antioxidant activity > 82%