Antioxidant effects of rosemary extracts on sunflower oil compared with synthetic antioxidants

Summary The antioxidant activities of ethanol extracts of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) (RE) were tested in natural sunflower oil stored at 60 °C by measuring their peroxide values (POV), thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substances (TBARS), free fatty acid (FFA) content and p‐anisidine value (AnV) after regular intervals compared with synthetic antioxidants. After 3 weeks of storage at 60 °C, sunflower oil containing 200 mg kg−1 rosemary extracts showed lower POVs (75.7 ± 0.47 meq kg−1), thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substances (TBARS)(0.161 ± 0.002 μg mL−1), FFA contents (0.45 ± 0.04 mg g−1) and AnV (12.4 ± 0.02) than the control sample. Sunflower oil containing 200 ppm butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and tert‐butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) showed POVs (204 ± 0.68, 159 ± 0.55, 20 ± 0.49 meq kg−1), thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substances (TBARS) (0.171 ± 0.002, 0.184 ± 0.002, 0.069 ± 0.001 μg mL−1), FFA contents (0.34 ± 0.03, 0.46 ± 0.03, 0.2 ± 0.01 mg g−1) and AnV (14.7 ± 0.03, 16.5 ± 0.04, 6.77 ± 0.01), respectively, after 3 weeks of storage at 60 °C. These results illustrate that rosemary extracts exhibited very strong antioxidant activity, almost equal to that of synthetic antioxidants (BHA and BHT).