Abstract:

The formulation of natural ginger complex was optimized by varying the distributions of ginger extract and tea extract in the complex. The radical scavenging capacities of natural ginger extract complexes was studied. Results showed that the radical scavenging activities of the natural ginner complexes with different chemical composition was positively correlated with the contents of flavonoids and other polyphenol and the complexes displayed high antioxidant activities than the ginger extract or tea extract alone, which indicated synergistic effect between these two extracts. The optimized formula for highest antioxidant activity was ginger extract: tea extract = 1.35:1 and this formula of ginger complex demonstrated even higher radical scavenging activity than artificial preservatives like BHT and PG.

Key words: ginger complex, antioxidant activity, synergistic effect