Evaluation of antioxidant activities of Mentha piperita essential oils obtained by different extraction methods

Abstract

As traditional extraction methods like Hydrodistillation (HD) and steamdistillation (SD) have long extraction times, some novel extraction methods like microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) and ohmic-assisted hydrodistillation (OAHD) are recently introduced. In this study, essential oils of Mentha piperita were extracted by OAHD and MAHD and the results were compared with those of the SD and HD to clarify if these novel procedures have significant effect on antioxidant activities of extracted essential oils. The results showed that OAHD and MAHD are able to reduce extraction time (up to 72%) and also required electrical energy. Furthermore, all extracted essential oils were shown to have approximately same physical properties (relative density and visual color) and antioxidant activity using DPPH and β-carotene bleaching methods. The findings of this study revealed the applicability of using mint essential oil obtained by MAHD and OAHD as a natural antioxidant in food and pharmaceutical products.