An Antioxidant Capacity Assay and its Application in Food Samples

Scientific research has spent more and more focus on antioxidants over the past decade. This is largely due to antioxidants\' biological ability to counteract oxidative stress, an important aspect of many human diseases. Therefore, it is of great interest to health providers and general public to develop a reliable standard protocol to assess antioxidant concentrations in common food. However, a literature search revealed that the majority of the existing antioxidant capacity assays are based on in vitro, and they cannot be used to establish a product\'s biological relevance, i.e. bioavailability and bioactivity. Although there are a few assays that are cell-based, there is a lack of validation, and some of the assays take days to finish. This book talks about a cell-based antioxidant capacity assay using a fused plasmid (sodA::gfp) which contains green fluorescent protein as the reporting mechanism. After showing its robustness through adequate validation, this assay was conveniently applied to assess common food samples. This book should be especially useful to food industry and will help to stimulate health awareness and habituate a healthy eating style.