Physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of hot waterextracts from medicinal fruit mixture

This study was conducted to examine the physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of medicinal fruitextracts (Corni fructus, Schizandra chinensis, Rubus coreanus Miquel and Lycii folium) with different extraction mixing ratios (MS, an equal ratio of the medicinal fruit = 1.25:1.25:1.25:1.25; M1, 2:1:1:1; M2, 1:2:1:1; M3, 1:1:2:1 and M4, 1:1:1:2) from medicinal fruit. pH, sugar content and acidity of the extracts were 3.22~3.52, 3.20~4.20 °Brix and 3.60~5.85%, respectively. The extraction yield of M2 (42.33%) was higher than those of MS (36.03%), M1 (40.40%), M3 (32.53%) and M4 (35.90%). The total polyphenol and flavonoid contents of M3 were 14.54 g/100 g and 5.65 g/100 g, respectively. The DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities of M3 at 1,000 μg/mL were 86.09% and 90.49%, respectively. The ferric-reducing antioxidant power and the reducing power of M3 at 250~1,000 μg/mL were 0.36~0.86 μM and 0.21~0.96, respectively. The antioxidant activities of M3 were significantly higher than those of the other extracts. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that medicinal fruit extracts had potential as a functional material.