Abstract: Wheat germ is a by-product of mill factory, often regarded as a functional ingredient to promote nutritional value offood. In this study, the antioxidant activity of wheat germ extracts was evaluated by various methods with BHT and ascorbic acidas control standards. The results showed that wheat germ extracts exhibited a strong DPPH radical scavenging activity, hydroxylradical scavenging activity, hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity, chelating activity, reducing power and liposome peroxidationinhibiting activity in comparison with BHT and ascorbic acid. Those antioxidant properties of wheat germ extracts dependeded onconcentration and increased with increasing concentration of sample. According to the results, wheat germ might be used as apotential natural antioxidant in the food industry.

Key words: wheat germ extracts, antioxidant activity