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Review
. 2022 Dec 1;11(12):2388.
doi: 10.3390/antiox11122388.

Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants-A Critical Review on In Vitro Antioxidant Assays

Raghavendhar R Kotha  1 , Fakir Shahidullah Tareq  1 , Elif Yildiz  2 , Devanand L Luthria  1
Affiliations
Review

Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants-A Critical Review on In Vitro Antioxidant Assays

Raghavendhar R Kotha et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

Antioxidants have been widely studied in the fields of biology, medicine, food, and nutrition sciences. There has been extensive work on developing assays for foods and biological systems. The scientific communities have well-accepted the effectiveness of endogenous antioxidants generated in the body. However, the health efficacy and the possible action of exogenous dietary antioxidants are still questionable. This may be attributed to several factors, including a lack of basic understanding of the interaction of exogenous antioxidants in the body, the lack of agreement of the different antioxidant assays, and the lack of specificity of the assays, which leads to an inability to relate specific dietary antioxidants to health outcomes. Hence, there is significant doubt regarding the relationship between dietary antioxidants to human health. In this review, we documented the variations in the current methodologies, their mechanisms, and the highly varying values for six common food substrates (fruits, vegetables, processed foods, grains, legumes, milk, and dairy-related products). Finally, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the antioxidant assays and examine the challenges in correlating the antioxidant activity of foods to human health.

Keywords: antioxidant assays limitations; antioxidants; challenges in correlating with health benefits; foods; oxidative stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of (A) radicals’ impact on human health, and (B) the generation of various radicals in vivo.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of (A) radicals’ impact on human health, and (B) the generation of various radicals in vivo.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Different approaches for the classification of antioxidants.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mechanistic aspects of antioxidant assays both in vitro and in vivo.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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