Total antioxidant capacity of new natural powdered seasonings after gastrointestinal and colonic digestion.

New powdered seasonings, rich in natural antioxidant compounds, have successfully been applied recently in different food matrices. Once ingested, the antioxidants contained in these seasonings may exert protective effects against oxidative stress along the gastrointestinal tract. This fact was evaluated by submitting the different seasonings under study to simulated digestion followed by assessing the reducing and antiradical capacities of the digested fractions. Enzymatic gastrointestinal digestion enhanced 2-3 times both antioxidant activities and colonic fermentation increased more than 10-fold the radical scavenging ability of digested fractions compared with undigested seasonings. Digested fractions derived from the seedless wine pomace seasoning presented generally the highest antioxidant properties. The results were evaluated considering bioaccessibility factors to have a more realistic overview of the potential antioxidant capacities of the seasonings and of the probable beneficial effects of their consumption on the prevention of oxidative damage along the gut.