OXYGEN RADICAL ABSORBING CAPACITY OF ANTHOCYANINS

Anthocyanins are natural colorants belonging to the flavonoid family. They are widely distributed among flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Usi ng the automated oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay devel oped in our laboratory, we determined the antioxidant capacity of 14 a nthocyanins including the aglycons delphinidin, cyanindin, pelargonidi n, malvidin, peonidin, and their derivatives with different sugar link ages. Among these anthocyanins, kuromanin (cyanidin-S-glucoside) had t he highest ORAC activity, which was 3.5 times stronger than Trolox (vi tamin E analogue), while pelargonin had the lowest antioxidant activit y but was still as potent as Trolox. Different patterns of hydroxylati on and glycosylation in anthocyanins appear to modulate their antioxid ant properties. Therefore, in addition to their colorful characteristi cs, anthocyanins possess potent antioxidant properties.