Determination of antioxidant and sun protection factor of plant curcuma xanthorrhiza (temulawak) / Norahsikin Mohd Saman

Antioxidants are substances that can fight and destroy excess free radicals and repair oxidative damage. Incorporation of antioxidant into a sunscreen may enhance its sun protection factor and at the same time provide protection from free radicals damage. The antioxidant activities of Curcuma xanthorrhiza aqueous and methanolic extract had been investigated by using I, l-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Determination of the sun protection factor was carried out by using diffuse transmittance measurements. CXME exhibit greater radical scavenging activity than CXAE. In the DPPH assay, CXAE require 95.50 µg/mL to achieve 50% effective concentration while CXME require 33.50 µg/mL. The SPF value of C xanthorrhiza measured in four different concentration is directly proportional to its concentration. CXME exhibit higher SPF value which is 3.74 compared to CXAE whicH is 2.64 at concentration I 0%. These results suggest that C xanthorrhiza could be a good source of natural antioxidant but some modification may be done to improve its SPF value for cosmeceutical product.