Functional Properties of Pine Needle Extract and Its Antioxidant Effect on Soybean Oil
To investigate the functional properties and the antioxidant effect of pine needle(Pinus densiflora), the pine needle extract was obtained with methanol and its functionality was measured by spectrophotometric method, and the antioxidant experiment on soybean oil was carried out by the active oxygen method. The extraction yield of pine needle with 99% methanol was about 19%, the total flavonoid content of the pine needle-methanol extract was 11.32 mg/g on dry basis and the superoxide dismutase-like activity was 94.3%. The nitrite scavenging ability of the extract was pH dependent with the values of 77.44% at pH 1.2, 48.45% at pH 3.0 and 11.04% at pH 6.0, respectively. The peroxide value was 92.6 meq/kg at 5% dosage, 138.4 meq/kg at 2% dosage of the extract on 8 oxidation days. The period of the peroxide value to be 100 mg/kg was 4.9, 6.3 and 8.5 days at control, 2% and 5% dosage of extract, respectively. And the relative antioxidant effectiveness of the extract was 27.9% and 72.3% increase at 2% and 5% dosage, respectively, compared to control. The thiobarbituric acid value showed few differences within 4 oxidation days, but with the dosage of the extract it fairly decreased with considerable antioxidant effect to control above 4 days.