POLYPHENOL CONTENT AND TOTAL ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF SELECTED ITALIAN WINES

The total antioxidant activity (TAA) of 13 typical Italian wines was d etermined (average 12.3 and 1.6 mM Trolox equivalents for red and whit e wines, respectively), and the resulting values were correlated with total phenols (1365-3326 and 96-146 mg/L for red and white wines, resp ectively), flavanols (203-805 and 11-49 mg/L, for red and white wines, respectively), and flavonols. Only the red wines contained appreciabl e amounts of flavonols (average 15.3 mg/L), with quercetin and rutin b eing the most abundant, followed by myricetin, kaempferol, and isorham netin accounting for only 0.7-3% of TAA. The TAA of investigated wines are well correlated with phenol (r = 0.9902) and flavanol (r = 0.9270 ) content. These results confirm that red wine polyphenols are in vitr o significant antioxidants and may explain the beneficial effects of a moderate daily intake of red wines, probably through a sparing action of highly bioavailable vitamins C, E, and beta-carotene.