Antioxidant activity of extracts from foxtail millet (Setaria italica)

The less explored, commercially available foxtail millet-milled fractions like whole flour & bran rich fraction were studied for its antioxidant potency. Phytochemicals like alkaloids, phenolics, reducing sugars and flavonoids were found only in methanolic & aqueous extracts, while tannins and terpenoids were present in all the solvent extracts of whole flour & bran rich fraction. Antioxidants were extracted using methanol, ethanol and water. Methanolic extracts of whole flour and bran rich fraction exhibited a significantly higher (P < 0.05) radical scavenging activity (44.62% & 51.80% respectively) using DPPH model system, and reducing power (0.381 & 0.455 respectively) at 2 mg, than the other solvents used for extraction. As bran rich fraction showed the highest antioxidant activity, suggesting the presence of antioxidant components in the bran layer.