than polyphenols across all extraction solvents. Saponins
have been linked with health benefits, such as anti-cancer
agents, as well as reducing cardiovascular diseases risk
(Guclu-Ustundag and Mazza, 2007; Wang et al., 2012), therefore
future studies are warranted to optimize extraction conditions
for saponins for both clinical and commercial applications.
While water is the solvent of choice for the preparation
of papaya leaf extracts possessing a high polyphenol concentration,
it should be noted that aqueous extraction results
in reduced overall yields of flavonoids and proanthocyanidins.
From a health perspective, it is of note that scavenging
and total antioxidant activities closely tracks polyphenol levels
present in the extracts (Table 1), suggesting that these
materials are primarily responsible for these characteristics.
Consequently, the correlation between polyphenols and the
scavenging and total antioxidant activities was further examined.