• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1143-1150
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• 2005

Antioxidative activities of 5 common edible seaweeds in Korea, three brown algae (seaweed fusiforme, sea mustard, sea tangle), one green algae (sea lettuce) and one red algae (laver), were examined. The antioxidative activities of ethanol extracts from these seaweeds were examined by measuring of inhibition rates against iron-induced linoleate peroxidation, DPPH (1,1-diphenyl -2-picrylhydrazyl) radical generation and MDA-BSA (malondialdehyde-bovine serum albumin) conjugation. Sea lettuce ethanol extract showed the strongest anti-oxidative activity among them, especially in inhibition against conjugation of lipid peroxide and protein. Second to sea lettuce, laver and sea tangle ethanol extracts showed high DPPH radical scavenging activity and inhibition against MDA-BSA conjugation. However, seaweed fusiforme and sea mustard ethanol extracts did not show antioxidative activities. Sea mustard contained the highest total flavonoids (11.33 mg/g dry wt) and sea lettuce contained the highest total polyphenol (8.97 mg/g dry wt) among these seaweeds. In addition, there was strong positive correlation between the antioxidative activity and total polyphenol content in these seaweeds, suggesting polyphenol compounds may contribute to antioxidative effect of seaweeds. From these data, it is suggested to consume much of seaweeds such as sea lettuce, laver and sea tangle to prevent age-related chronic diseases, and also develope neutraceutical products using polyphenol rich fraction from sea lettuce.