Phenolics and Flavonoids and Antioxidant Potential of Balarishta Prepared by Traditional and Modern Methods

The objective of the present study was to estimate the total phenolic content as well as flavonoids in Balarishta-T and Balarishta-M prepared by traditional and modern methods respectively and in its marketed preparation and also to evaluate the antioxidant activity of these test preparations on two different in vitro antioxidant activity models. Total phenolic content was determined colorimetrically using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and was found 0.1104 and 0.1098 %w/w gallic acid equivalent in Balarishta-T and Balarishta-M respectively. Total flavonoid content was determined by aluminium chloride method and was found 0.01548 and 0.01542 %w/w quercetin equivalent in Balarishta-T and Balarishta-M respectively. Super-oxide anion scavenging activity and lipid per-oxidation assay were carried out to evaluate the antioxidant potential of Balarishta-T and Balarishta-M. The antioxidant activity of Balarishta-T and Balarishta-M was found increased in concentration dependent manner in both the in vitro antioxidant activity models as super-oxide radical scavenging activity and lipid per-oxidation assay. Balarishta-T and Balarishta-M showed significant scavenging of super-oxide radical and showed IC50 65.75 μg/ml and 67.85 μg/ml respectively. Balarishta-T and Balarishta-M also inhibited the ferrous sulphate induced lipid per-oxidation in dose dependent manner and showed inhibitory concentration (IC50) 196.61 μg/ml and 201.72 μg/ml respectively. Marketed Balarishta also showed a rich concentration of total phenolics and flavonoids and showed dose dependent antioxidant activity in both the models. Thus, the results obtained in this study indicate that Balarishta-T and Balarishta-M can be a promising source of natural antioxidant.