Anthocyanin-based natural colorants: a new source of antiradical activity for foodstuff.

The antiradical capacity (radical scavenger capacity, RSC) of anthocyanin-based fruit extracts prepared in the laboratory (black chokeberry, black-thorn, and strawberry) was studied by using the 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH(*)). To determine their RSC, the second-order rate constant (k(2)) for the oxidation of these extracts by DPPH(*) was calculated. The value of k(2) was compared to that used in the food industry as natural (alpha-tocopherol) or synthetic (butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)) antioxidants, as well as for a commercial elderberry concentrate and a synthetic colorant (Ponceau 4R). The k(2) values ((mg/mL)(-)(1) s(-)(1)), in methanol at 25 degrees C, were 1.87, 0.7, 0.42, 0.2, 0.05, 0.03, and 0.008 for alpha-tocopherol, black chokeberry, BHA, black-thorn, BHT, strawberry, and elderberry, respectively. Ponceau 4R lacked RSC. Therefore, these natural colorants proved to be a combined source of color and RSC for food material.