Abstract: There is evidence that dietary antioxidants play a crucial role in promoting health and reducing the risks of chronic diseases, which has recently attracted a great amount of attention in both academic and industrial fields. However, most current studies are limited to activity evaluation of extracts and far away from application in the human body. Both pH and various digestive enzymes are potential factors that influence the stability of antioxidants in food during digestion. This article reviews the latest studies on the structural changes of polyphenols, flavonoids and carotenoids in food as well as changes in their antioxidant capacity during digestion, which will provide a theoretical reference for the evaluation of the antioxidant capacity of food components.

Key words: digestion, antioxidant, antioxidant capacity, stability