ASSESSING THE ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF POLYPHENOLS

There is considerable interest in finding natural antioxidants effecti ve for preservation of foods and as nutritional supplements to delay t he effects of aging and other diseases which ore thought to involve ox idative damage to biological macromolecules. There are good end-points for assessing the oxidative deterioration of foods. It will be for mo re difficult to identify antioxidants which will be effective against aging and diseases as the macromolecules critically involved in many d iseases have not been identified. In addition, the mechanism by which these macromolecules are oxidized in vivo is not known nor do we know how in vitro assays reflect the in vivo situation.