Abstract:

This study investigated the radical scavenging activity including·OH, H2O2, NO2, and O2· and reducing power of five brands of commercial grape wines made in China by spectrophotometry. All the brands of grape wines had varying radical scavenging activities and reducing powers. The activities of scavenging ·OH and O2· radicals and the reducing power were significantly positively correlated to the procyanidin content, respectively while no significant correlation of the procyanidin content was found to the scavenging activities to NO2 and O2· radicals. This might be due to the synergetic effect of procyanidins and other phytochemicals contained in grape wines and further studies need to be done to make clear the mechanisms of radical scavenging activity of grape wines.

Key words: grape wine, procyanidins, polyphenolic phytochemicals, radicals, spectrophotometry