The scavenging capacity and synergistic effects of lycopene, vitamin E, vitamin C, and β-carotene mixtures on the DPPH free radical

• Published in: Food science & technology 2008-01, Vol.41 (7), p.1344-1349
• Main Authors: Liu, Donghong, Shi, John, Colina Ibarra, Alejandra, Kakuda, Yukio, Jun Xue, Sophia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antioxidant; antioxidant activity; ascorbic acid; beta-carotene; bioactive properties; Biological and medical sciences; Carotenoid; DPPH; food analysis; food composition; Food industries; free radical scavengers; free radicals; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; lycopene; mixtures; Scavenging capacity; Synergistic effect; synergists; vitamin E
• ISSN: 0023-6438; 1096-1127
• DOI: 10.1016/j.lwt.2007.08.001

The biological activity of lycopene can be enhanced by the presence of these other active antioxidants such as β-carotene, vitamin E, and vitamin C. Since many of these natural antioxidants are consumed together in foods, the potential for synergistic interactions is high in the human diet. The aim of this study was to determine what concentrations and combinations of antioxidants among lycopene, vitamin E, vitamin C, and β-carotene are capable of producing synergistic antioxidant effects, based on tomato-based food products. Solutions of the scavenging capacities of lycopene, vitamin E, vitamin C, and β-carotene, alone and in different combinations were measured using the stable free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. Three different levels of each antioxidant were used. A comparison of the scavenging capacity (antioxidant activity) of the combinations of antioxidants to the arithmetic sum of the scavenging capacities of the individual antioxidants was used to calculate the synergistic effects (SEs) between the antioxidants. The results showed that the mixture that had the highest SEs ( P