Analytical strategies to evaluate antioxidants in food: a review

Antioxidants are an important group of food additives that have the ability to protect against detrimental change of oxidizable nutrients and consequently they extend shelf-life of foods. The present paper is an updated review on the analysis of ten antioxidants (both synthetic and natural). Three types of gallates, propyl (PG), octyl (OG) and dodecyl (DG), tert-Butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT), tert-Butylhydroxyanisole (BHA), alpha-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, erythorbic acid and sodium b-isoascorbate were the antioxidants selected. The physico-chemical properties, sample preparation procedures and analytical methods for their determination are compared and discussed.