Investigation of antioxidative activity and phenolic contents in different sea cucumber formulations

Sea cucumbers were widely consumed in Asian country as health supplement as they were claimed to exhibit various health benefits such as antioxidant activity. Thus, the aim of this study was to measure the total phenolic content and assessing the free radical scavenging activity of different sea cucumber formulations and also to develop a standard HPTLC method for assessing free radical scavenging activity of these phenolic compounds. Sea cucumber capsules were found to have highest total phenolic contents and exhibit antioxidant activity while the dried and frozen sea cucumber did not contained phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity. The free radical scavenging activity of the sea cucumber capsules was quantified by using Gallic Acid Equivalent and the value was 13. 75 GAE (mg/L). However, the antioxidant activity exhibited was probably not coming from the sea cucumber extracts but from the other ingredients of the capsules.