In Korea, yam with thermal treatment is widely used to produce tea and beverage, which appeals to all age groups. To better understand the antioxidative activity of thermal treatment yam (Dioscorea batatas DECNE.), n-butanol and ethyl acetate extracts were evaluated with different antioxidant testing system. Their antioxidant activities, including ABTS [2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt] radical scavenging activity, DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity, reducing power, and ferric reducing antioxidant power as well as total phenol contents were assessed in vitro. Results showed ethyl acetate extract (51.63±2.51 mg CAE/g) possessed similar total phenol content compared with n-butanol extract (53.93±1.00 mg CAE/g). Ethyl acetate extract also exhibited similarly stronger antioxidant activity compared with n-butanol extract apart from ABTS radical scavenging activity assay.

n-Butanol and ethyl acetate extracts of thermal treatment yam (Dioscorea batatas DECNE.) belonging to the family Dioscoreaceae were measured for their radical scavenging activity and lipid peroxidation inhibition ability. In this study, ethyl acetate extract showed the most potent antioxidant activity evaluated by ferrous ion chelating activity and NO radical scavenging activity. Nevertheless, n-butanol extract was more effective in inhibiting linoleic acid peroxidation. A significant difference between n-butanol extract and ethyl acetate extract in nitrite scavenging activity β-carotene bleaching assays could not be found. Also, the results of this study showed that thermal treatment yam could be used as easily accessible source of natural antioxidants and as a possible food supplement.

To better investigate the antioxidative property of thermal treatment yam (Dioscorea batatas DECNE.) in Korea, some established methods were used. 70% Methanol, 70% ethanol and chloroform–methanol (CM, 2:1, v/v) extracts were collected. 70% Methanol extract exhibited stronger antioxidative activity evaluated by ferrous ion chelating activity, NO radical scavenging activity and β-carotene bleaching assays. On the contrary, CM extract was the most effective in inhibiting linoleic acid peroxidation. Yam available in Korea was also analyzed for its bioactive compounds such as lycopene, chlorophyll a, b, tannin, phytic acid and total saponin contents. Total saponin was abundant in thermal treatment, which determined to be 42.52±1.88 mg/g. Based on the results obtained from this study, thermal treatment yam could be used as natural antioxidant source due to its high antioxidant activity and bioactive compound contents.

The aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant activity of thermal treatment yam (Dioscorea batatas DECNE.) in Korea. Thermal treatment yam was extracted by different solvents including 70% methanol, 70% ethanol and chloroform–methanol mixture (CM, 2:1, v/v). Then color property, total phenol content and antioxidant activity were analyzed. Yam possessed high L* value and H° value, which were 54.92±2.18 and 73.20±0.77, respectively. Thermal treatment yam exhibited great antioxidant activity evaluated by ABTS [2,2′ -azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt] radical scavenging activity, DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity, reducing power, and ferric reducing antioxidant power. Total phenol contents of various extracts from thermal treatment yam increased in the following order: 70% methanol extract (63.53±0.33 mg CAE/g), 70% ethanol extract (69.47±1.00 mg CAE/g) and CM extract (97.49±0.66 mg CAE/g), respectively. The same trend was also could be found in antioxidant activity assays except for reducing power assay. These results implied that these extracts from thermal treatment yam might be useful to take a good part in prevention of human diseases and aging.

In this study, the thermal treatment yam (Dioscorea batatas DECNE.) was analyzed for its proximate and nutritional compositions including mineral, vitamin, amino acids and fatty acids. Thermal treatment yam is mainly consisted of carbohydrate (70.3%) with small amounts of crude protein (15.8%), crude ash (5.1%) and crude fat (1.6%). It was found to be a good source of essential minerals such as K (1100.2 mg/100 g), Mg (99.4 mg/100 g), Ca (54.8 mg/100 g) and Na (44.9 mg/100 g) but Zn (4.8 mg/100 g) and Fe (0.2 mg/100 g) content was low. Little amounts of vitamin E (8.3 mg/100 g), vitamin C (3.5 mg/100 g) and vitamin B1 (2.1 mg/100 g) could be found. The amino acid analysis revealed that the yam was superior with respect to serine (1454.2 mg%), lysine (684.6 mg%) and histidine (684.6 mg%). Essential amino acids were calculated to be 2849.3 mg%. The amino acid profiles showed that thermal treatment yam is limiting in isoleucine and phenylaline. Linoleic acid was the most predominant fatty acids with the value of 47.3% followed by palmitic acid (24.7%) and oleic acid (12.7%). And the unsaturated fatty acids including oleic acid and linoleic acid were present in big quantities in thermal treatment yam.