Nutrients 2011, 3(3), 317-329; doi:10.3390/nu3030317
Article

Antioxidant Activity of a Mediterranean Food Product: “Fig Syrup”

Francesco Puoci 1,* email, Francesca Iemma 1 email, Umile G. Spizzirri 1 email, Donatella Restuccia 1 email, Vincenzo Pezzi 2 email, Rosa Sirianni 2 email, Lillo Manganaro 1 email, Manuela Curcio 1 email, Ortensia I. Parisi 1 email, Giuseppe Cirillo 1 email and Nevio Picci 1 email
1 Pharmaceutical Sciences Department, University of Calabria, Edificio Polifunzionale, Arcavacata di Rende (CS) 87036, Italy 2 Department of Pharmaco-Biology, University of Calabria, Edificio Polifunzionale, Arcavacata di Rende (CS) 87036, Italy
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 11 January 2011; in revised form: 14 February 2011 / Accepted: 25 February 2011 / Published: 28 February 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Antioxidants)
PDF Full-text Download PDF Full-Text [229 KB, uploaded 28 February 2011 09:57 CET]
Abstract: In this work, the efficacy of fig syrup, a Mediterranean fig derivative, as a nutraceutical supplement, was demonstrated. Fig syrup is a fruit concentrate used as a common ingredient in the preparation of typical foods, and particularly in cakes. In vitro assays were performed to determine the amount of nutraceutical ingredients, such as phenolic compounds (3.92 mg equivalent of gallic acid per g) and flavonoids (0.35 mg equivalent of catechin per g), while HPLC analyses provided specific information about the composition of antioxidants in the syrup. Furthermore, total antioxidant activity, scavenging properties against DPPH and peroxyl radicals, and the anticholinesterase activity, clearly showed the efficacy of the syrup in preventing damage induced by free radicals and, thus, the applicability of this food derivative as a nutraceutical supplement.
Keywords: antioxidants; nutraceutical supplement; fruits/vegetables analysis; enzyme inhibition; polyphenols; fig syrup

Article Statistics

Click here to load and display the download statistics.

Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Puoci, F.; Iemma, F.; Spizzirri, U.G.; Restuccia, D.; Pezzi, V.; Sirianni, R.; Manganaro, L.; Curcio, M.; Parisi, O.I.; Cirillo, G.; Picci, N. Antioxidant Activity of a Mediterranean Food Product: “Fig Syrup”. Nutrients 2011, 3, 317-329.

AMA Style

Puoci F, Iemma F, Spizzirri UG, Restuccia D, Pezzi V, Sirianni R, Manganaro L, Curcio M, Parisi OI, Cirillo G, Picci N. Antioxidant Activity of a Mediterranean Food Product: “Fig Syrup”. Nutrients. 2011; 3(3):317-329.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Puoci, Francesco; Iemma, Francesca; Spizzirri, Umile G.; Restuccia, Donatella; Pezzi, Vincenzo; Sirianni, Rosa; Manganaro, Lillo; Curcio, Manuela; Parisi, Ortensia I.; Cirillo, Giuseppe; Picci, Nevio. 2011. "Antioxidant Activity of a Mediterranean Food Product: “Fig Syrup”." Nutrients 3, no. 3: 317-329.

Nutrients EISSN 2072-6643 Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland RSS E-Mail Table of Contents Alert