in Table 3. Interestingly, both methanol and acetone
extracts of dry heat-treated seed coat samples exhibited the
highest TAA compared to respective solvent extracts of
raw seed coat samples. Though the total phenolic content
of processed seed samples of respective solvent extracts
found to be relatively low, the TAA of such samples seems
to be efficient for functioning as a potential nutraceuticals/
antioxidants when they are ingested along with nutrients/
an or drinking as tea. The extensive investigations on
antiradical and antioxidant activities of small phenolics
including flavonoids and phenolic acids have already been
reported (Rice-Evans et al., 1996). Apart from these,
Hagerman et al. (1998) have recently reported that the high
molecular weight phenolics (tannins) have more ability to
quench free radicals (ABTSd+) and that effectiveness
depends on the molecular weight, the number of aromatic
rings and nature of hydroxyl groups’ substitution than the
specific functional groups. On the other hand, the
formation of tannin-protein complexes, both in insoluble
and soluble complexes, as the result of conventional food/
seed processing have also been shown to be potential free
radical scavenger and radical sinks. Moreover, such
complexes could also have been suggested to be one of
the nutraceutical contributors to prevent the free radical
mediated diseases occurring in the gastrointestinal tract
(Riedl & Hagerman, 2001).
3.5. Ferric reducing antioxidant power
Antioxidants can be explained as reductants, and
inactivation of oxidants by reductants can be described
as redox reactions in which one reaction species (oxidant) is
reduced at the expense of the oxidation of another
antioxidant. The FRAP assay measures the antioxidan