Antioxidant efficacy of Elettaria cardamomum (cardamom) essential oil: A comparative study

Abstract

Cardamom is considered as one of the most famous spices with impressive medicinal properties and has been used in traditional medicine for centuries. In this study, the essential oils (EO) of cardamom collected from the local market were extracted using the Clevenger apparatus, followed by identifying the antioxidant activity using three assays: DPPH, FRAP, and TAC. The results showed that the extraction yield of cardamom EO obtained by Clevenger apparatus at a ratio of 1/10 of distilled water, for 3 h at 100 °C temperature was 5.34%. Distilled cardamom EO exhibited a strong antioxidant activity (IC50 value: 184.86 μg/ml), while the purchased EO have a strong Ferric-Reducing Antioxidant Power and lower Anti-radical scavenging activity (EC50 value of 21.64 μg/ml and IC50 value of 207.02 μg/ml). Moreover, both of them distilled and purchased cardamom EOs have a good Total Antioxidant Capacity (IC50 value of 39.15 and 34.91 μg/ml, respectively). This result provides the basis for further studies to evaluate the potential use of EO from cardamom for antioxidant activities.