However, the baseline TEAC of the CECO-fed rats decreased during the first 28 days. Feeding of rats for a period longer than 28 days caused the improvement of TEAC
back to the baseline reading. The overall results of this experiment
after 84 days indicate that the serum TEAC increased significantly
(p < 0.05) in HECO-fed rats and did not increase in CECO-fed rats. Dietary fat affects the antioxidant defence systems in the body
(Pulla Reddy & Lokesh, 1994). However, the results in Table 3 show
that there is no significant difference in fatty acid compositions between
CECO and HECO, suggesting that the improvement of TEAC
is clearly due to the higher phenolic content of HECO, compared
with CECO.