Pharmacophore an International Research Journal
Moringa oleifera is an important source of antioxidants, tools in nutritional biochemistry that could be beneficial for human health. The leaves and flowers are used by the population with great nutritional importance. This work investigates the antioxidant activity of M. oleifera from three different dried leaves (shade drying, cabinet drying and fludized bed drying) of blanched and unblanched samples. Antioxidant components were detected in blanched and unblanched leaves of shade, cabinet and fludized bed drying methods. The radical scavenging capacity (RSC) of extracts was determined using the DPPH (1,1- diphenyl- 2- picryl hydrazyl) by spectrophotometric method and the spectrophotometric assays were recorded (517 nm) and it was noted that the ethanol extracts showed maximum antioxidant activity of blanched samples such as 65.78%, 66.09% and 71.40% respectively. The presence of polyphenols was higher in blanched moringa leaves dried in shade drying followed by cabinet drying. The fluidized bed dried leaves exhibited 1.19% of total polyphenolic content. This might be due to the processing techniques of leaves. The best RSC was obtained with blanched leaf samples. This research proves M. oleifera leaves possess higher antioxidant activity and it is used as an alternative source for nutritional supplements that support the use of the plant tissues as food sources.
