ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF BERRY AND FRUIT WINES AND LIQUORS

A total of 44 different berry and fruit wines and liquors with total p henolic contents between 91 and 1820 mg/L, expressed as gallic acid eq uivalents (GAE), were evaluated for antioxidant activity. Dealcoholize d wine extracts were added to methyl linoleate (MeLo), and the oxidati on in the dark at 40 degrees C was followed by conjugated diene measur ement. Wines made of mixtures of black currants and crowberries or bil berries (240-275 mu M GAE) were slightly superior to reference red gra pe wines (330-375 mu M GAE) and equally as active as the control antio xidant, alpha-tocopherol (50 mu M), in inhibiting MeLo hydroperoxide f ormation. Also, raw materials including apple, arctic bramble, cowberr ies, cranberries, red currants, or rowanberries possessed antioxidant activity. Thus, these raw materials contain phenolic compounds, some o f which are capable of protecting lipids against oxidation also in a h ydrophobic lipid system. Liquors, apart from arctic bramble liquor, we re less active than wines. However, the total phenolic content did not correlate with the antioxidant activity of the berry and fruit wines and liquors, therefore alleviating the importance of further character ization of the phenolic antioxidants present in berry and fruit wines.