There is a growing interest in natural food antioxidants from plant origins due to the carcinogenic effects of synthetic antioxidants; this interest has led to the extraction of these biologically active components from a range of raw vegetable substances . Biologically,antioxidants have been described as substances that can delay or inhibit the oxidation process when they are present in concentrations lower than the oxidation substrate.
No definition could limit the antioxidant activity to a specific group of compounds or to any specific mechanism of action.