Antioxidant activity of medicinal and aromatic plants. A review

Antioxidant properties have been attributed to the essential oils but a great diversity of results has been reported, mainly attributed to the chemical composition of the essential oils and the diversity of tests used. In fact, several in vitro assays for the determination of antioxidant ability have been used. They can be divided into two main groups: those that evaluate lipid peroxidation and that those that measure free radical scavenging ability. In the present study, a brief description of the mechanism involved in the majority of techniques used for the evaluation of antioxidant activity of essential oils is given. At the same time, the antioxidant activities of some essential oils, measured through several methodologies, are presented and compared. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.