Clinical Pharmacology & Biopharmaceutics
Open Access

Abstract

Objectives: Because of their ability to damage biological molecules, free radicals may affect several biological processes and lead to many diseases. Ginger (Zingiber officinalis) and peel of pomegranate (Punica granatum) used by human for thousands of years as therapy, are both medicinal plants that has many biological properties that are attributed to their wealth in phenolic compounds. Material & Methods: The influence of extraction methods on the content of these substances (method, temperature and extraction time) and consequently on their antioxidant properties were investigated. Three aqueous extraction methods were used: infusion, decoction and maceration. Results: The results indicated that maceration is the best extraction method of polyphenols (113.54 mg EGA/g of extract, 532.22 mg EGA/g of extract for ginger and pomegranate peel, respectively). The mixture of the two plants gave the highest phenolic content (888.52 mg EGA/ g of extract) and showed a great antioxidant activity (68.12%). According to these results, we conclude that this traditional therapeutic drink consisting of ginger and pomegranate peel has significant antioxidant activity using maceration as extraction method (p<0.05).

Biography

Email: zeghichi@yahoo.fr