Antioxidant analysis of betacyanin extracted from Basella alba fruit

Basella alba fruit with dark blue skin and deep red violet flesh is a potential source of natural colorant. This study was aimed to evaluate the total betacyanin content, total phenol and to analyse the antioxidant activity against DPPH radical, superoxide anions, hydroxyl radical, metal chelating, hydrogen peroxide, FRAP, ABTS and deoxyribose degradation in a dose dependend manner. Betacyanin extracted from Basella alba fruit exhibited excellent antioxidant activity. It was therefore suggested that betacyanin could be beneficial in scavenging free radicals and our findings revealed that Basella alba have potential as good sources of natural antioxidant/nutraceutical compounds.