Evaluation of Phenolic Content Variability along with Antioxidant, Antimicrobial, and Cytotoxic Potential of Selected Traditional Medicinal Plants from India

Abstract

Use of synthetic food additives imposed the need for the search of a natural alternative to synthesize antioxidants. For this, medicinal plants are well known to be used as natural antioxidant agents, as they possess low toxicity and are rich sources of pharmaceutical compounds (Carocho and Ferreira, 2013). Epidemiological studies have shown that the plants abundant in active secondary metabolites with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties can be exploited for bioactive compounds. Natural antioxidants such as polyphenols, tocopherols, carotenoids, ascorbic acid etc. could prevent oxidation reactions which may help in restoring the quality of food products (Wojcik et al., 2010). The antioxidant activity of medicinal plants is generally studied with respect to total phenolic compounds and their free radical scavenging assays as they may be responsible for various bioactivities (Farhat et al., 2013; Navas-Lopez et al., 2014; Iqbal et al., 2015).