Original article

Comparison of hot air-drying and freeze-drying on the

physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of pumpkin
(Cucurbita moschata Duch.) ours
Fei Que,
1,2
Linchun Mao,
1
* Xuehua Fang
1
& Tao Wu
1
1 Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Biosystem Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, China
2 The Department of Applied Engineering, Zhejiang Economic and Trade Polytechnic, Hangzhou 310018, China
(Received 16 March 2006; Accepted in revised form 08 March 2007)
Summary Freeze-drying and hot air-drying were applied in the preparation of pumpkin ours to investigate the eects
of drying methods on the antioxidant activities and physicochemical properties. The antioxidant activities of
methanol extracts from pumpkin ours were studied in terms of total antioxidant activity, reducing power,
free radical scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging and metal chelating activities. Hot air-dried
pumpkin our showed stronger antioxidant activities than freeze-dried our. The percentage inhibition of
peroxidation in linoleic acid system by 15 mg mL
)1
extracts from hot air-dried and freeze-dried pumpkin
ours was found to be 92.4% and 86.1% after 120 h of incubation, respectively. Hot air-dried pumpkin our
exhibited higher reducing power, free radical scavenging and metal chelating activities than freeze-dried
our. This study also indicated that freeze-drying signicantly reduced the browning and preserved the
redness of pumpkin ours. Hot air-drying reduced the oil absorption capacity, water absorption and
porosity of pumpkin ours, while it markedly increased the water solubility and bulk density.
Keywords Antioxidant activities, drying, physicochemical properties, pumpkin.
Introduction
Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch.) is believed as
health and functional vegetables because it is rich in
phenolics, avonoids, vitamin (including b-carotene,
Vitamin A, a-tocopherol, Vitamin C), amino acids and
carbohydrates (Wang & Zhao, 1998; Zhang et al., 2000,
2002; Wang et al., 2002). There are many traditional
pumpkin foods, like pumpkin cake, pumpkin congee
and so forth. Besides, it is also used as herbal medicinal
ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine (Zhang &
Sheng, 2003).
Pumpkin our is currently the main processed
product of pumpkin fruit, because it can be easily
stored for long time and conveniently used in manu-
facturing formulated foods. Adding pumpkin our in
the processing of noodles, breads and cakes, not only
enhances the content of various nutrients, but also
improves the avour of products (Lee et al., 2002).
Among dierent drying processes, vacuum freeze-drying
is the most eective way in protecting nutrients during
processing, but it is costly. Relatively cheaper hot air-
drying is commonly used in drying process, but usually
results in inferior product quality (Hsu et al., 2003). It is
therefore interesting to investigate the eects of these
two drying methods on the quality of pumpkin ours,
especially the benecial antioxidant activities and phe-
nolic compounds.
Phenolics in green tea, fruits and vegetables, grapes
have been recognised as natural antioxidants and have
been extensively studied by many investigators for their
health promoting eects, such as cancer and cardiovas-
cular disease prevention, and anti-inammatory activit-
ies (Balentine et al., 1997; Cul et al., 2002; Friedman &
Kimball, 1986; Hertog et al., 1995; Serani et al., 2000;
Katalinic et al., 2003). However, very few if any studies
are available on the health promoting phenolics in
pumpkin. Furthermore, an extensive review of literature
found no information on the antioxidant activity of
pumpkin. Thus, the objective of the present study was to
determine the inuence of hot air-drying and freeze-
drying on the physicochemical properties and antioxid-
ant activities of pumpkin ours.
*Correspondent: Fax: 86-571-88273009;
e-mail: linchun@zju.edu.cn
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2008, 43, 11951201 1195
doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.2007.01590.x
2007 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund
Materials and methods
Chemicals
Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytol-
uene (BHT), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH), 3-
(2-pyridyl)-5,6-bis-(4-phenylsulfonic acid) -1,2,4-triazine
(Ferrozine), a-tocopherol, xanthine (99%), xanthine
oxidase (25 units), nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) were
purchased from Sigma (Sigma, St Louis, MO, USA).
Isobutyl alcohol and phthalic acid diethyl ester were
purchased from Shanghai Reagent Co Ltd, Shanghai,
China. All other chemicals used were of analytical grade.
Plant material and our preparation
Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch.) fruit was
obtained from a local market in Hangzhou. After
peeling, pumpkin esh was cut into slices
(50 mm 20 mm 10 mm) which were freeze-dried
with a vacuum freeze dryer (Savant VLP-200, New
York, USA) at )50C to )45C and 2.3 mbar or hot air-
dried with an air-dryer (Fuma DGX-9143B-1, Shanghai,
China) at 70C for 54 h. The dried slices were ground
with a blender (Jundi JD-999C, Shanghai, China) and
sieved through a 60-mesh screen to obtain pumpkin
ours with a moisture content of 0.54 0.06% (freeze-
dried our) and 0.62 0.03% (air-dried our)
(Table 1). The pumpkin our was sealed in polyester
bottles and stored at )20C for later analysis.
Determination of the oil absorption capacity
Oil absorption capacity was determined using the
method of Lawal (2005) with small modications.
Pumpkin our (1 g) and 6 mL of Salad oil (Kerry Oils
& Grains Co Ltd, China) was mixed for 30 s. The
mixture was then allowed to stand for 30 min before
centrifuging at 3000 g for 30 min (HITACHI
SCR20BC, Tokyo, Japan). Oil absorption capacity
(mL g
)1
) = (mL of supernatant) grams of pumpkin
our.
Determination of the true density, bulk density, porosity
The volume displacement method described by Samej-
ima et al. (1982) was used to determine the true density,
bulk density and porosity of pumpkin ours. A portion
of pumpkin our (W) was added to a pre-weighed
volumetric cylinder, and the volume was read as V
1
.
After the same volume (V
1
) of displacement solvent
(isobutyl alcohol: phthalic acid diethyl ester = 1:1)
was added to the cylinder and the total volume of the
our plus solvent in the cylinder was taken as V
2
.
Calculations were made as: true density (TD)
(g mL
)1
) = W (V
2
)V
1
), bulk density (BD) (g mL
)1
) =
W V
1
, porosity = 1)(BD TD).
Determination of the water solubility and the water
absorption
Water solubility and water absorption were determined
according to Anderson et al. (1969). Pumpkin our (1 g)
and water (10 mL) were vigorously mixed in a 15 mL
centrifuge tube, incubated in a 37C water bath for
30 min, and then centrifuged (3000 g, 10 min) (HI-
TACHI SCR20BC, Tokyo, Japan). The supernatant
was collected in a pre-weighed beaker, and the residue
was weighed after the water was evaporated at 105 C.
The percentage of residue with respect to the amount of
pumpkin our used in the test was taken as water
solubility: water solubility = (weight of residue weight
of pumpkin our) 100. The weight ratio of centrifuged
precipitate to the amount of pumpkin our used in the
test was taken as the water absorption: water absorp-
tion = weight of centrifuged precipitate weight of
pumpkin our.
Colour evaluation
Colour readings of pumpkin ours were performed with
a chromameter (WSC-S, Minolta, Shanghai, China),
equipped with an 8-mm measuring head. The meter was
calibrated using the manufacturers standard white plate
(x = 76.38, y = 80.71, z = 86.20). L refers to the
lightness of the our, and ranges from black to white
(0100). A negative value of a indicates green, while
a positive number indicates red-purple colour. Positive
b indicates yellow and negative blue colour.
Determination of the total phenolic compounds
Total phenolic compounds in the pumpkin ours were
determined with Folin-Ciocalteu reagent according to
Table 1 Physicochemical properties and total phenolic compounds of
pumpkin ours prepared by hot air-drying and freeze-drying
Drying methods Freeze-drying Hot air-drying
Colour
L 80.15 0.21a 61.83 0.76b
a 13.43 0.23a 11.12 0.44b
b 48.63 0.58a 41.87 0.56b
Oil absorption capacity (mL g
)1
) 2.38 0.04a 1.08 0.02b
Water solubility (%) 30.71 0.71b 34.90 0.80a
Water absorption 2.74 0.04a 2.60 0.08a
True density (g mL
)1
) 2.24 0.52a 1.83 0.30a
Bulk density (g mL
)1
) 0.33 0.01b 0.59 0.04a
Porosity 0.85 0.03a 0.67 0.06b
Total phenolic compounds
(mg g
)1
dry pumpkin our).
0.39 0.06b 1.64 0.11a
Moisture content 0.54 0.06% 0.62 0.03%
Physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of hot air-dried and freeze-dried pumpkin ours F. Que et al. 1196
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2008, 43, 11951201 2007 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund
the method of Slinkard & Singleton (1977) using gallic
acid as a standard phenolic compound. In brief, 50 mg
of our was dissolved in 4.1 mL of distilled water, and
mixed with 0.1 mL of Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. After
3 min 0.3 mL of 2% Na
2
CO
3
was added, then the
mixture was allowed to stand for 2 h at 25C with
intermittent shaking. The absorbance was measured at
760 nm in a spectrophotometer. The total amount of
phenolic compounds was calculated using gallic acid as
the standard phenolic (mg g
)1
).
Methanol extraction
Methanol is supposed to be the solvent suitable for the
extraction of phenolic compounds, including avonoids,
from fresh plant tissues (Yao et al., 2004). Therefore,
methanol was chosen for extraction in this study based
on its use in the literature, as well as its ease of
evaporation compared with water. Pumpkin our (10 g)
and 80 mL of methanol was mixed and stirred for 24 h
at 25C in a rotary shaker before ltering through
Whatman No.1 lter paper. The residue was then
washed twice with methanol. The combined extract
was then dried in a rotary evaporator to a moisture of
0.62% under reduced pressure at 40C. Four concen-
trations (5, 10, 15, and 20 mg mL
)1
) were prepared by
dissolving this dried extract in methanol.
Determination of the total antioxidant activity
The total antioxidant activity of pumpkin our was
determined according to the thiocyanate method (Mit-
suda et al., 1966) with some modications. A volume of
1 mL of 15 mg mL
)1
extract and 2.5 mL of 0.04 m
potassium phosphate buer (pH 7.0) were mixed with
2.5 mL of linoleic acid emulsion. Linoleic acid emulsion
(50 mL) was prepared by mixing 175 mg of Tween-20,
155 lL of linoleic acid, and 0.04 m potassium phosphate
buer (pH 7.0). The mixed solution (6 mL) was incu-
bated at 37C in the dark. The peroxide level was
determined from the absorbance at 500 nm in a spec-
trophotometer (UV-2100, Unico, Shanghai, China) after
reaction with 20 mm FeCl
2
(in 3.5% HCl) and 30%
ammonium thiocyanate (NH
4
SCN) every 12 h. BHA
and a-tocopherol were used as positive standards.
Determination of the reducing power
The reducing power of pumpkin our was determined
by the method of Oyaizu (1986). A volume of 1 mL of
extract was mixed with 2.5 mL of 0.2 m phosphate
buer (pH 6.6) and 2.5 mL of 1% potassium ferricya-
nide [K
3
Fe(CN)
6
]. The mixture was incubated at 50C
for 20 min, and then centrifuged at 3000 g for 10 min
after adding with 2.5 mL of 10% trichloroacetic acid.
Absorbance at 700 nm of the reaction solution con-
tained 2.5 mL of supernatant, 2.5 mL of distilled water
and 0.5 mL of 0.1%FeCl
3
was measured against a blank
with UV-2100 spectrophotometer. A higher absorbance
indicates a higher reducing power. BHT was used as
positive standard.
Determination of the free radical scavenging activity
Free radical scavenging activity was measured using 1,1-
diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazil (DPPH

) by the method of
Shimada et al. (1992). The 0.1 mm DPPH

in methanol
was prepared and 5 mL of this solution was added to
1 mL of extract. After 30 min, absorbance was meas-
ured at 517 nm. Lower absorbance of the reaction
mixture indicates higher free radical scavenging activity.
The % scavenging activity of DPPH

was calculated by
the following equation:
% Scavenging activity
A
0
A
1
A
0
100%
where A
0
represents the absorbance of the control
reaction and A
1
the absorbance in the presence of
pumpkin our methanol extracts. BHT was used as
positive standard.
Determination of the metal chelating activity
The chelating activity of pumpkin ours on Fe
2+
was
measured using the method of Dinis et al. (1994). A
volume of 1 mL of extract was mixed with 4.7 mL of
distilled water and then the mixture was allowed to react
with 0.1 mL of 2 mm FeCl
2
and 0.2 mL of 5 mm 3-(2-
pyridyl)-5,6-bis (4-phenyl-sulfonic acid)-1, 2, 4-triazine
(Ferrozine) for 20 min. The absorbance was read at
562 nmin a spectrophotometer. One milliliter of distilled
water, instead of methanol extracts, was used as a blank
control. Chelating activity was calculated as follows:
% Chelating activity
A
0
A
1
A
0
100%
where A
0
represents the absorbance of the blank control
reaction and A
1
the absorbance in the presence of the
sample of pumpkin our. EDTA was used as positive
standard.
Determination of the superoxide anion scavenging activity
The Superoxide anion scavenging activity of pumpkin
ours was measured using the xanthine xanthine oxid-
ase method (Okamura et al., 1993; Lu & Foo, 2001)
with some modications. The superoxide radicals were
generated in vitro by the xanthine oxidase. A volume of
1 mL of extract was added to 1.0 mL of 0.4 mm
xanthine containing 0.24 mm NBT chloride in 0.1 m
phosphate buer (pH 8.0). A 1.0 mL solution of
xanthine oxidase (0.049 units mL
)1
) in 0.1 m phosphate
Physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of hot air-dried and freeze-dried pumpkin ours F. Que et al. 1197
2007 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2008, 43, 11951201
buer (pH 8.0) was added to the mixture and the
resulting mixture incubated in a water bath at 37C for
40 min. The reaction was terminated by adding 2.0 mL
of 69 mm sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS) and the
absorbance of NBT was measured at 560 nm. The %
scavenging eect of the superoxide anion was calculated
by the following equation:
%Scavenging activity
A
0
A
1
A
0
100%
where A
0
was the absorbance of the control reaction and
A
1
was the absorbance in the presence of pumpkin our.
Statistical analysis
Experimental results were mean SD of three parallel
measurements. Statistical analysis was conducted using
a commercial statistic computing software package
(DPS

3.1 for Windows, China). Signicant dierences

between means were determined by Duncans multiple
range tests. P-values < 0.05 were regarded as signi-
cant and P-values < 0.01 were very signicant.
Results and discussion
Physicochemical properties of pumpkin ours
The physicochemical properties of pumpkin ours are
shown in Table 1. Freeze-drying resulted in lighter
colour indicated by higher L-values. The lower L-values
for hot air-drying indicated a great browning occurred
during heating. Flours with freeze-drying preserved
more redness (indicated by higher a-value) and showed
the less yellowness (indicated by higher b-value) com-
pared with ours prepared by hot air-drying. This result
indicated that freeze-drying reduced the discolouration
and produced high quality colour of pumpkin ours.
As shown in Table 1, pumpkin ours prepared by
freeze-drying had a higher oil absorption capability than
ours prepared by hot air-drying.
A higher water solubility was observed in hot air-
dried pumpkin ours when compared with freeze-dried
ours. This result was similar to yam our (Hsu et al.,
2003) and indicated that more starch would be decom-
posed during hot air-drying, because water solubility
reects the extent of starch degradation (Diosady et al.,
1985). There was no signicant dierence in water
absorption and true density between freeze-drying and
hot air-drying, while a higher bulk density and lower
porosity were obtained in ours prepared by hot air-
drying.
Total phenolic compounds
Phenolic compounds are associated with antioxidant
activity and play an important role in stabilising lipid
peroxidation (Yen et al., 1993). Content of phenolic
compounds in hot air-dried pumpkin our
(1.64 mg g
)1
) was 4.6 times higher than that in freeze-
dried pumpkin our (0.39 mg g
)1
) (Table 1), indicating
the formation of phenolic substances during drying at
70C. This increase of polyphenol contents after heating
might be responsible of the high antioxidant activity of
the hot air-dried our as illustrated in Figs 14. This
study indicates that pumpkin our contains much higher
content of phenolics than roasted apricot kernel our
(4.58 lg g
)1
) (Durmaz & Alpaslan, 2005), barley our
(880 lg g
)1
) (Ragaee et al., 2005), raw our of sweet
potato (47.962.9 lg g
)1
), steamed our of sweet potato
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108 120
Time (h)
A
b
s
o
r
b
a
n
c
e

a
t

5
0
0

n
m
Figure 1 Total antioxidant activity of 15 mg mL
)1
methanol extracts
of pumpkin ours prepared by hot air-drying (d) and freeze-drying
(m), comparing with 0.1 mg mL
)1
BHA ( ) and 0.1 mg mL
)1
a-tocopherol (h).
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
0 5 10 15 20
Concentration (mg mL
1
)
A
b
s
o
r
b
a
n
c
e

a
t

7
0
0

n
m
Figure 2 Reducing power in different concentrations of methanol
extracts of pumpkin ours prepared by hot air-drying (d) or freeze-
drying (m), comparing with 0.1 mg mL
)1
BHT (h).
Physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of hot air-dried and freeze-dried pumpkin ours F. Que et al. 1198
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2008, 43, 11951201 2007 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund
(101.3325.7 lg g
)1
) and kneaded our of sweet potato
(83.6290.4 lg g
)1
) (Huang et al., 2005).
The formation of phenolic compounds might be
because of the availability of precursors of phenolic
molecules by non-enzymatic interconversion between
phenolic molecules. Soong & Barlow (2004) reported
that the total polyphenols in extracts of mango seed
kernel our increased from 50 to 160 mg g
)1
with an
increase in heating temperature to 160C, but were
considerably reduced at 200C. Therefore, they sugges-
ted the use of extracts from products heated between 105
and 160C as an additive in certain functional foods to
boost their antioxidant capacity. Another explanation
for the higher antioxidant activity after heating, at least
in part is an increased generation and accumulation of
Maillard-type antioxidants. Maillard-derived melanoi-
dins have varying degree of antioxidant activity,
depending on their origin (Kim et al., 1986). Nicoli
et al. (1997) suggested that the increase in antioxidant
activity of minimally roasted coee is the result of the
formation of Millard products. Antonio et al. (2003)
observed an increase in hydroxymethylfural, an inter-
mediate in Maillard reaction, in plums dried at 60 and
85C. Thus, the degree of heating could be an important
factor contributing to high total polyphenol content of
pumpkin our.
Total antioxidant activity
Fig. 1 shows the total antioxidant activity of
15 mg mL
)1
methanol extracts from pumpkin ours
prepared by hot air-drying and freeze-drying during
120 h of incubation. The antioxidant activity of pump-
kin ours increased rapidly with increasing time of
incubation. However, hot air-dried our exhibited much
higher antioxidant activity than freeze-dried sample, and
even showed the similar activity as 0.1 mg mL
)1
BHA.
The percentage inhibition of peroxidation in linoleic
acid system by extracts from hot air-dried and freeze-
dried pumpkin ours were found to be 92.4% and
86.1% after 120 h of incubation, respectively.
Freeze-drying is the most eective drying method in
protecting nutrients, given to pumpkin our a looser
texture and the fresh-like colour (Table 1). However,
this study revealed that hot air-drying exhibited a higher
antioxidant activity than freeze-drying. Similar results of
increased antioxidant activity with high temperatures
have also been reported in coee (Nicoli et al., 1997;
Sa nchez-Gonza lez et al., 2005) and mango seed kernel
our (Soong & Barlow, 2004).
Reducing power
Pumpkin our showed a strong concentration-depen-
dent reducing power (Fig. 2). Reducing power of extract
from pumpkin our prepared by hot air-drying in-
creased with increasing concentration, which seemed to
follow a linear relationship. However, that prepared by
freeze-drying showed little increase with the increase in
concentration. All concentrations of hot air-dried
pumpkin extract showed higher reducing power than
freeze-dried pumpkin extract, and this dierence was
statistically highly signicant. The reducing power was
much higher in BHT than in pumpkin extracts, with the
maximum value at the extract concentration of
5 mg mL
)1
.
Free radical scavenging activity
The eect of antioxidants on DPPH radical scavenging
was thought to be because of their hydrogen donating
ability. DPPH

is a stable free radical and accepts an

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0 5 10 15 20
Concentration (mg mL
1
)
D
P
P
H

s
c
a
v
e
n
g
i
n
g

a
c
t
i
v
i
t
y


(
%
)
Figure 3 DPPH free radical scavenging activity in different concen-
trations of methanol extracts of pumpkin ours prepared by hot
air-drying (d) or freeze-drying (m), comparing with 0.1 mg mL
)1
BHT (h).
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 5 10 15 20
Concentration (mg mL
1
)
M
e
t
a
l

c
h
e
l
a
t
i
n
g

a
c
t
i
v
i
t
y


(
%
)
Figure 4 Metal chelating activities in different concentrations of
methanol extracts of pumpkin ours prepared by hot air-drying (d)
or freeze-drying (m), comparing with 0.1 mg mL
)1
EDTA ().
Physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of hot air-dried and freeze-dried pumpkin ours F. Que et al. 1199
2007 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2008, 43, 11951201
electron or hydrogen radical to become a stable
diamagnetic molecule (Soares et al., 1997). The reduc-
tion capability of DPPH radicals was determined by the
decrease in its absorbance at 517 nm induced by
antioxidants. Fig. 3 illustrates the DPPH radical scav-
enging ability of pumpkin extracts. Extract from hot
air-dried pumpkin our showed a stronger DPPH

scavenging activity than that of freeze-dried pumpkin

and this dierence was found signicant statistically.
DPPH

scavenging activities of hot air-dried pumpkin

extract and BHT reached constant high levels at
concentrations of 520 mg mL
)1
.
Metal chelating capacity
Ferrozine can quantitatively form complexes with Fe
2+
.
In the presence of chelating agents, the complex
formation is disrupted with the result that the red
colour of the complex is decreased. Measurement of
colour reduction therefore allows the estimation of
chelating activity of the co-existing chelator. In this
assay, pumpkin extracts interfered with the formation of
ferrous-ferrozine complex. As shown in Fig. 4, the
formation of the Fe
2+
-ferrozine complex is not com-
plete in the presence of pumpkin extracts, demonstrating
their marked capacity for iron binding. The Fe
2+
chelating capacity of extracts from both hot air-dried
and freeze-dried pumpkin ours were linearly dose-
dependent, increasing from 38.63% and 21.87% at
5 mg mL
)1
to 77.89% and 71.08% at 20 mg mL
)1
,
respectively. The dierence between hot air-drying and
freeze-drying was statistically signicant. Metal chelat-
ing capacity was an important property as it reduced the
concentration of the catalyzing transition metal in lipid
peroxidation (Yild r m et al., 2001).
Superoxide anion scavenging activity
The decrease in absorbance at 560 nm with pumpkin
extracts indicates the consumption of superoxide anion
in the reaction mixture. Fig. 5 shows the percentage
inhibition of superoxide radical generation by methanol
extracts of hot air-dried and freeze-dried pumpkin
ours. Extracts from both ours had strong superoxide
radical scavenging activity. However, hot air-drying and
freeze-drying showed little statistical dierence in the
inhibition of superoxide radical generation.
Conclusion
The present study demonstrates a signicantly higher
total antioxidant activity in hot air-dried pumpkin our
than in freeze-dried pumpkin our. This might be
because of the high level of phenolic compounds in the
hot air-dried pumpkin four. Alternatively, or in addi-
tion, it might also be because of the production of
Maillard products or their intermediates with potent
antioxidant activity. The antioxidant mechanisms of
pumpkin extracts may be attributed to strong hydrogen
donating ability, metal chelating ability, and their
eectiveness as scavengers of hydrogen peroxide, super-
oxide, and free radicals.
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Concentration (mg mL
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S
u
p
e
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Figure 5 Superoxide scavenging activities in different concentrations
of methanol extracts of pumpkin powders prepared by hot air-
drying (d) or freeze-drying (m).
Physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of hot air-dried and freeze-dried pumpkin ours F. Que et al. 1200
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2008, 43, 11951201 2007 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund
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2007 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2008, 43, 11951201