Use of the Trolox assay to estimate the antioxidant content of seventeen edible wild plants of Niger.

Although wild edible plants of the western Sahel and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa are consumed to some extent at all times of the year, greater amounts are consumed when cereal harvests are insufficient to support the populations living in these areas. The purpose of this study was to use a recently reported Trolox-based assay to measure the total antioxidant capacity of aqueous extracts of 17 plants that we gathered from southern Niger. The antioxidant contents of the aqueous extracts were compared to those of spinach and potato. Of the 17 plants, 11 had a greater antioxidant content than spinach and 14 had a greater antioxidant content than potato. The leaves of Tapinanthus globiferus had the greatest antioxidant content, and the fruit of Parinari macrophylla had the lowest. In general, leaves contained more antioxidants than either fruits or seeds. The total antioxidant capacity of the aqueous extracts was relatively high, indicating that the wild plants of the western Sahel may contain substantial amounts of water-soluble flavonoid glycosides, which are potent antioxidants and have been shown to have anticancer properties.