Abstract

Currently there has been an increased interest globally to identify antioxidant compounds that are pharmacologically potent and have low or no side effects for use in preventive medicine and the food industry. As plants produce significant amount of antioxidants to prevent the oxidative stress caused by free radicals and oxygen, they represent a potential source of new compounds with antioxidant activity. In India and across the world, the traditional herbal medicine has its own importance in human health care and prevention of many diseases. Ayurveda is the oldest medical system in the world that provides potential leads to find active and therapeutically useful compounds from plants. Considering the growing interest in possessing the antioxidant capacity of medicinal plants, we tried to recognize the effect of antioxidants in different plants by using DPPH (1, 1 – diphenyl- 2- picryl hydrazyl) radical assay. Some of the plants reviewed are part of multi-herbal preparations while others are used singly. Some of the medicinal plants like Azadirachta indica, Bacopa monnieri, Capsicum annuum, Carica papaya, Citrullus colocynthis, Citrus aurantifolia, Coriandrum sativum, Emblica officinalis, Mangifera indica , Madhuca indica , Momordica charantia , Ocimum sanctum, Syzygium cuminii, Tamarindus indica are used as food sources, which helps in the emerging area of antioxidant research of medicinal plants.

Key words: Medicinal plants, 1,1 – diphenyl-2- picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), antioxidant activity.