Comparative Study on Antioxidant activity of Turmeric root, Holy basil and Tea leaves

Abstract

Holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum ), Turmeric( Camellia sinensis ) and Tea ( Curcuma longa ) have been widely used in traditional oriental medicine to treat a variety of illness. The present study was carried out to evaluate the antioxidant activities from the extracts of three plant leaves Ocimum tenuiflorum (Holy basil), Curcuma longa (Turmeric) and Camellia sinensis (Tea leaves). In the present study, the fractionated ethanolic extracts of dried leaves of Ocimum tenuiflorum and Camellia sinensis and dried stem of Curcuma longa were evaluated for the antioxidant activity or free redical scavenging activity. This was achieved by screening the leaf and its extracts for estimating free radical scavenging properties using ascorbic acid as standard antioxidant. Total phenolic content was estimated in leaf extracts showing more antiradical activity in tea leaves (72.22%) is higher in average than in Holy basil (44.10%) and Turmeric (62.15%) where 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity was assayed. Quantification of ascorbic acid showed 95.83% to 100% antiradical activities which was assumed as a standard for antioxidant properties in the present study. The present study reveals all three plants Ocimum tenuiflorum (Holy basil), Curcuma longa (Turmeric) and Camellia sinensis (Tea leaves) would exert several beneficial effects by virtue of their antioxidant activity and could be hardnosed as drug formulation. Upon further fractionation, the highest average levels of DPPH radical scavenging activities was found in the Camellia sinensis (Tea leaves) and the lowest level was found in the Ocimum tenuiflorum (Holy basil).