The effect of food additives and cooking on the antioxidant properties of purslane

Purpose This paper aims to study the effect of cooking and food additives, such as lemon juice and vinegar, on phenols and flavonoids contents and antioxidant activity of purslane. Design/methodology/approach The Folin–Ciocalteu method was used to determine total phenols content (TP), while total flavonoid content (TF) was determined by the aluminum chloride method. Two methods were used for determination of antioxidant activity: DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) assay to determine radical scavenging activity, and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) to measure the reducing power. Findings According to the results, leafs had higher values of TP, TF and antioxidant activity than aerial parts. Both lemon juice and vinegar retracted antioxidant properties of leafs. TP and TF of leaves showed deterioration after treatment with lemon by 58% and 21.8%, respectively, and FRAP and radical scavenging activity decreased by 75.8% and 74.5%, respectively (p < 0.001). Also, TP, TF, FRAP and DPPH radical scavenging activity decreased in leaves by 82.2%, 30.5%, 87.8% and 90.9%, respectively, after treatment of leaves with vinegar. TF increased after cooking in studied parts, where no significant statistical difference was observed in TP and antioxidant activity (DPPH assay and FRAP) of cooked aerial parts. Adding lemon juice after cooking increased antioxidant properties of purslane (p < 0.001). Originality/value Purslane has antioxidant activity because it is rich in polyphenols and flavonoids. Effects of food additives and cooking were studied using different measurements. According to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work that studied the effect of food additives on antioxidant properties of purslane.