Comparative assessment of antioxidant profile of Daucus carota L. ssp. sativus Hoffm. var. atrorubens Alef. and a fermented local beverage, „Şalgam“

Şalgam is a well-known traditional local beverage which is prepared by the lactic acid fermentation of black carrot [1]. It has been widely consumed in Turkish daily meal. This study aims to compare the antioxidant potentials of Şalgam and its main ingredient, black carrot. Both şalgam and black carrot juice were freeze-dried prior to analysis. In vitro colorimetric systems were used for this purpose. DPPH test was performed for free-radical scavenging activity. IC₅₀ value of black carrot were found to be 646±90.11, whereas 919±13.43 for şalgam. Total antioxidant capacities equivalent to ascorbic acid of şalgam and black carrot juice showed a good activity at 125mg/L concentration with values 91.76±1.24 and 100.8±1.72mg AA/g dry extract, respectively. Ferric-reducing antioxidant power assay gave a result of 1012±13.27µM FeSO₄/g dry extract for black carrot and 964±7.21µM FeSO₄/g dry extract for şalgam. These results indicate that although antioxidant potentials are close to each other, black carrot juice shows higher in vitro antioxidant activity when compared to that of şalgam. Further in vivo studies are in progress.

References: [1] Erten et al. (2008) Food Reviews International 24:352–359