Authors
Title
Abstract
In the study, there were determined the content of total phenolic compounds in and the Radical Scavenging Activity of ABTS•+ of tree saps of eight tree species: silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.), downy birch (B. pubescens Ehrh.), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus L.), Norway maple (Acer platanoides L.), boxelder (A. negundo L.), black walnut (Juglans nigra L.), black alder (Alnus glutinosa Gaertn.), and white willow (Salix alba L.). The highest mean concentration of total phenolic compounds (3.7 mg/GAE/100 ml) as well as the highest Radical Scavenging Activity (8.82 % RSA) were determined in the sap of black walnut tree. The lowest mean content of total phenolic compounds (1.56 mg GAE/100 ml) and the lowest average Radical Scavenging Activity (1.36 % RSA) were determined in the hornbeam sap. Moreover, a correlation was proved to exist between the content of phenolic compounds in the Norway maple tree sap and its antioxidant activity. In the case of six tree species, a dependence was proved to exist between the age of the trees and the content of total phenolic compounds in the saps analyzed. A higher content of those compounds was in the older trees. However, it was shown that the tree saps were a relatively poor source of antioxidant compounds compared to other food products.
Keywords
tree saps, phenolic compounds, Radical Scavenging Activity, health foods