Antioxidant Activity of the Essential Oil and Oleoresin of Zingiber Officinale Roscoe as Affected by Chemical Environment

Three different biochemical test systems were chosen based on their solubility to study the antioxidant activity of ginger extracts. Reducing power and DPPH^. scavenging activity tests were considered to produce hydrophilic environments and the H₂O₂ test was considered as creating a lipophilic environment. The average yields were 10.23 ± 1.02% and 0.48 ± 0.19% for oleoresin and essential oil, respectively. The content of total phenols was 67.6 ± 1.08 mg GAE/g of dry extract. In terms of EC₅₀, in hydrophilic environment standards, it showed the highest effects compared to ginger extracts, with oleoresin presenting more activity than essential oil. In contrast, except for quercetin, essential oil showed the best scavenging activity in inhibiting H₂O₂ compared to all other antioxidants. The present work demonstrated that, when using reducing power, DPPH· free radical scavenging and H₂O₂ scavenging assays, the same ginger extracts exhibit different antioxidant activities, which were affected not only by the extract itself but also by the chemical environment (hydrophilic/lipophilic).