Author(s)

Patricia Micucci, Maria Rosario Alonso, Sebastian Turner, Roberto Davicino, Claudia Anesini

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Larrea divaricata Cav. is a South American plant widely distributed in Argentina with reported antioxidant and antim- icrobial activities. Vitamin C (Vit C) the most important water-soluble antioxidant, is degraded upon factors such as oxygen, heat, light, storage time and temperature, during cooking and in presence of microorganisms. The aim of this work was: to study the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of an aqueous extract of L. divaricata (E) on Vit C pre- pared in water and on Vit C from natural orange juice, submitted to different store conditions such as temperatures and oxygen. The antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH method and used to obtained the relative Vit C concentra- tion; Vit C decreased its activity and concentration under temperature and air oxygen, but E allowed Vit C to recover its antioxidant activity and prevented Vit C microorganism contamination. These studies were performed in view to es- tablish whether L. divaricata can be used as a supplement on orange juices capable to prevent Vit C decay and micro- bial growth.

Vitamin C, Larrea Divaricata Cav., Antioxidant Activity, Antimicrobial Activity

P. Micucci, M. Alonso, S. Turner, R. Davicino and C. Anesini, "Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Larrea Divaricata Cav. Aqueous Extract on Vitamin C from Natural Orange Juice," Food and Nutrition Sciences, Vol. 2 No. 1, 2011, pp. 35-46. doi: 10.4236/fns.2011.21005.