Science Letters

Use of Bauhinia racemosa Flower Extract as an Antioxidant Agent for the Stabilization of Sunflower Oil

Inam-U-llah 1, 2*, Saeed Akhtar 1, Rana Muhammad Aadil 3, Fengyuan Piao 2, Tariq Ismail 1, Muhammad Riaz 1, Raheel Suleman 4, Ume Roobab 3, Amna Ramzan 3

1 Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, 60800-Pakistan

2 School of Public Health, Dalian Medical University, 116044, Dalian, China

3 National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

4 Institute of Food Science and Technology, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Beijing, China

Abstract

The study was designed to assess the efficacy of Bauhinia racemosa flower in the stabilization of sunflower oil. The concentrated water and ethanol extracts of the B. racemosa flowers at varying doses were used with the sunflower oil. Ethanol (100%) and distilled water (100%) were used for the preparation of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of dried powder of B. racemosa flowers by using rotary evaporator, respectively. Both extracts were used at the concentration of 200, 400 and 600 ppm separately and compared with butyl hydroxyl toluene (100 ppm) and ascorbic acid (300 ppm). Both extracts were effective in controlling free fatty acids, acid values, and peroxide values. Most significant activity was seen with the ethanolic extracts while aqueous extract also showed a potent activity towards the stabilization of sunflower oil. The 200 ppm dose of aqueous extract was found to be the most efficient while both the extracts exhibited variable patterns against the lipid peroxidation, while for the thiobarbituric reactive substances, ascorbic acid was the most effective. The results of this study showed that B. racemosa could be used as a natural source of antioxidants in the stabilization of oils and also for increasing their nutritive profile due to natural bioactive components.