Activity of natural antioxidants extracted from greater calamint, sweet cicely and coltsfoot cultivated in Lithuania and in France.

The residues obtained after hydrodistillation of th ree aromatic plants ( Calamintha grandiflora , Myrrhis odorata and Tussilago farfara ) were separated into solid and liquid fractions. T he liquid fraction was dried while the solid fraction was extracted with acetone, methanol or et hanol. Two main types of antioxidant activity tests were employed: i) assays to evaluate oxidation of fats, oils and other fat containing foods (Oxipress); ii) assays to evaluate radical scavenging activity in model syste ms (DPPH, FRAP). The antioxidant activities were expressed as gallic acid equivalents (GAE) with the aim of stand ardizing these methods and that allow data comparis ons. The three antioxidant assay methods give different anti oxidant activity trends. An initial screening of et hanol extracts from the three aromatic plants for antioxidant acti vity in oil reported them as the best. Despite hydr odistillation residues presented strong antioxidant activities, t he total phenolics content in acetone, methanol, et hanol leaves extracts for Tussilago farfara was about twice lower than others plants extracts.