Antioxidant Activity in Toffees and Selected Medicinal Plants

Abstract

Medicinal plants contain high levels of natural antioxidants and exhibited strong antioxidant activity. Plants contain a large variety of free radical scavenging molecules, such as flavonoids, anthocyanins, carotenoids, dietary glutathionine, and vitamins. Phenols are a main cluster of antioxidant phytochemicals with curious assets that can play a vital role in adsorbing and neutralizing free radicals. They hold potent antioxidant, anticancer, antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory activities. In spite of the antioxidant composition of medicinal plants in human health, the investigation about their potential use as food flavors is negligibly compared with other plants of similar composition as spices, herbs, fruit, and vegetable tissues. These functional properties may be due to the terpenes and phenolic contents that can act as the principal contributors of the antioxidant and antimicrobial power of botanical materials. Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Azadirachta indica (Neem) is a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. Coleus ambonicus or Karpuravalli (in Tamil), is a plant that must be grown in homes where there are children.