Efficiency and capacity of antioxidant rich food in trapping peroxyl radicals: a full evaluation of radical scavenging activity.

For the first time a variety of foods, characterized by high antioxidant activity, have been tested for the reactivity by which the system of antioxidants present in these foods competes for peroxyl radicals with poly-unsaturated fatty acids. The oxygraphic method we have used, on the basis of a rigorous kinetic model, permits to obtain the reactivity that is the Peroxyl Radical Trapping Efficiency (PRTE), beyond the Peroxyl Radical Trapping Capacity (PRTC) and to assign to each food characteristic values of these parameters, so facilitating their inter-comparison. In the analyzed foods the PRTE/PRTC ratio spans more than one order of magnitude, so reflecting the quality of antioxidants present in foods. According to the PRTE values and on the basis of the serving size the ranking of antioxidant food efficiency in trapping peroxyl radicals was blueberry > red chicory > coffee > pineapple ≈ red wine ≈ orange ≈ dark chocolate ≈ apple ≈ tea > pomegranate.