PH-dependent forms of red wine anthocyanins as antioxidants.

Anthocyanins are one of the main classes of flavonoids in red wines, and they appear to contribute significantly to the powerful antioxidant properties of the flavonoids. In grapes and wines the anthocyanins are in the flavylium form. However, during digestion they may reach higher pH values, forming the carbinol pseudo-base, quinoidal-base, or the chalcone, and these compounds appear to be absorbed from the gut into the blood system. The antioxidant activity of these compounds, in several metal-catalyzed lipid oxidation model systems, was evaluated in comparison with other antioxidants. The pseudo-base and quinoidal-base malvidin 3-glucoside significantly inhibited the peroxidation of linoleate by myoglobin. Both compounds were found to work better than catechin, a well-known antioxidant. In a membrane lipid peroxidation system, the effectiveness of the antioxidant was dependent on the catalyst: In the presence of H(2)O(2)-activated myoglobin, the inhibition efficiency of the antioxidant was malvidin 3-glucoside > catechin > malvidin > resveratrol. However, in the presence of an iron redox cycle catalyzer, the order of effectiveness was resveratrol > malvidin 3-glucoside = malvidin > catechin. The pH-transformed forms of the anthocyanins remained effective antioxidants in these systems, and their I(50) values were between 0.5 and 6.2 microM.