Eighth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Calamintha nepeta L. is a prosperous source of phenolic compounds exerting numerous health benefits. However, the limitation is present in the manner to benefit maximally from this natural source in food application. In the present study, osmotic dehydratation was used to enrich a solid foodstuff model with infusion of Calamintha nepeta L. The food model was analyzed for total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid amount (TFA) and antioxidant activity using β-carotene/linoleic acid system and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay at different interval time 4, 8, 12 and 24h. The findings revealed a proportional relationship between impregnation time of osmo-dehydrated food and their contents in TPC and TFA. The food model recorded a potential DPPH free radical scavenging effect after 4h of impregnation with 10 mg/mL only, the osmo-dehydrated food capacity to inhibit β-carotene bleaching was close to the known synthetic antioxidant. Our investigation indicated that TPC of food model is comparable to the contents in some rich-in-phenolic fruits and vegetables and its antioxidant properties are greatly enhanced by the extract.