Study on antioxidant activity of common dry fruits.

This study investigates the antioxidant activity of different dry fruits (almonds, walnut, cashew nut, raisins, chironji) through several chemical and biochemical assays: reducing power, lipid peroxidation damage in biomembranes, determination of antioxidant enzymes activity (SOD and CAT). To estimate the total phenolic content, the assay using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent was used. The EC(50) values were calculated for all the methods in order to evaluate the antioxidant efficiency of each dry fruit. The results obtained were quite heterogenous, revealing significant differences among the dry fruits. The methanolic extract of walnut showed the higher value of antioxidant activity based on lipid peroxidation assay. The higher phenolic content was found in walnuts followed by almonds cashew nut, chironji and least phenolic content was found in raisins. Walnut revealed the best antioxidant properties, presenting lower EC(50) values in all assays except in antioxidant enzymatic activity.