Determination of the Antioxidant Activity and Stability of Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) Extract in Sunflower Oil

Antioxidants prevent the reaction of free radicals with biomolecules and can promote the nutritional values and physiological properties of foodstuffs. There are synthetic and natural kinds of antioxidants and nowadays there is a trend to replace the natural kinds instead of the synthetic kinds. Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L. ) is a well known and valuable medicinal plants that is used widely in Iranian traditional medicine. The antioxidant effect of essential oil of Chamomile had proofed and this study shows the antioxidant activity of chamomile extract. The extract was obtained by the mixture of equal volume of water and ethyl alcohol (1:1). The antioxidant activity and stability was investigated with three methods, DPPH free • radical scavenging system; determine of the peroxide and thiobarbituric acid numbers. The antioxidant activity of the extract were determined in 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 mg/ml concentrations by measuring of peroxide and thiobarbituric acid numbers in a crude sunflower oil as a greasy food. The antioxidant activities of the extracts were valuable and were raised by increasing of the extract concentrations. Results show that chamomile extract can be use as a natural antioxidant in oily foods as a complementary material.