International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2011, 46, 25132519

Original article
Comparative analyses of total phenols, flavonoids, saponins and
antioxidant activity in yellow soy beans and mung beans
Ji Hye Lee,1 Ji Kyeong Jeon,1 Seong Gyu Kim,1 Sae Hun Kim,2 Taehoon Chun3 & Jee-Young Imm1*
1 Department of Foods and Nutrition, Kookmin University, 861-1 Jeongnung-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-702, Korea
2 Division of Food Bioscience and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
3 Division of Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
(Received 15 March 2011; Accepted in revised form 1 August 2011)

Summary

Total phenol, avonoid and saponin content of soy bean and mung bean were systemically compared in
order to evaluate their contribution to overall antioxidant activity. Mung bean extract possessed signicantly
higher total phenol (2.03 GAE g)1 vs. 1.13 GAE g)1) and avonoid contents (1.49 GAE g)1 vs.
0.41 CAE g)1) than soy bean extract, while the saponin content of the soy beans was 4.5 times greater
than that of the mung beans. In several antioxidant assays including DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging,
FRAP, SOD-like activity, and a b-carotene bleaching assay, mung bean extract consistently showed
signicantly greater antioxidant activity than soy bean extract. The specic antioxidant activity, which was
evaluated at the same phenolic content suggested that the phenolic compounds present in the mung bean
extract were not only of greater quantity but also had better quality to eliminate radicals. The radical
scavenging activities of saponins were only marginal.

Keywords

Antioxidants, avonoids, phenols, saponins.

Introduction

Reactive oxygen species refer to free radicals and

hydrogen peroxides generated during high levels of
metabolism in living matter. Once radicals are produced
they instantly interact with other molecules or themselves and excess generation of free radicals causes
oxidative damages. It has been reported that bean
consumption exerts benecial health eects and this is
largely related to their antioxidant eects (Anderson
et al., 1999; Cardador-Martinez et al., 2002; FernandezPanchon et al., 2008). These reports also suggest that
legumes are excellent dietary antioxidant sources capable of reducing risks of chronic diseases.
Legumes are edible seeds located in pods and are
commonly consumed all over the world but most
attention has been given to soy beans which have high
concentrations of isoavones (Mazur et al., 1998).
Mung beans (Vigna radiata) are a popular short season
summer growing legume and are widely consumed in the
form of mung bean sprouts in Asian cuisine and are also
used for the production of starch noodles. It has been
reported that mung beans are a rich source of protein
*Correspondent: Fax: 82 2 910 5249;
e-mail: jyimm@kookmin.ac.kr

(2132%) and have excellent digestive quality (Anwar

et al., 2007). In terms of biological activity, the intake of
mung bean extract favourably controlled glucose and
lipid metabolism in rats (Yao et al., 2008).
Although phenolic content has shown a good
correlation with antioxidant activity in legumes other
non-phenolic compounds including ascorbic acid, phytic
acid, tocopherols, carotenoids and saponins could
collectively contribute to this antioxidant activity. To
evaluate antioxidant activity simple solvent extraction
or serial solvent fractions are usually carried out and the
antioxidant eects of extracts are determined by
dierent methodologies. Generally, it is dicult to
make direct comparison with data from other studies
not only due to variations in samples (cultivars,
maturity, etc.) but also extraction conditions. Antioxidant analytical methodologies with dierent principles
might lead to dierent results (Xu & Chang, 2007)
and dierent units for the expression of antioxidant
activity also causes problems for the interpretation of
results.
Up to the present time, only a few studies have been
performed to determine antioxidant activities in mung
beans. Anwar et al. (2007) examined the chemical
composition and antioxidant activity of four dierent
mung bean cultivars. However, the antioxidant activity

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.2011.02775.x
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Antioxidant activity of soy bean and mung bean J. H. Lee et al.

of mung beans has not been systematically compared to

that of soy beans which are widely used in numerous
food products.
This study was conducted to compare total phenolic,
avonoid, and saponin contents in soy beans and mung
beans and to systemically evaluate antioxidant activities
using a combination of several tests.

water bath for 20 min. The absorbance was measured at

740 nm using a spectrophotometer (Amhersham
Pharmacia Biotech, Little Chalfont, UK) and total
phenolic contents were expressed as milligrams of
gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per grams of defatted
sample.
Total flavonoid content

Materials and methods

Materials

Mung bean (Vigna radiate cv. jangan) and yellow soy

bean (Glycine max L. cv. hwangkeum) were purchased
from a local supermarket (Seoul, Korea). Mung beans
and soy beans were grown in Gyenonggi province,
Korea under continental climate and fully matured
seeds were harvested. Mung beans were green-coloured
circular seeds with diameter of 45 mm. Soy beans were
yellowish circular seeds with diameter of 78 mm. All
organic solvent including hexane and ethanol were
HPLC grade and obtained from Fischer Scientic Co.
(Fair Lawn, NJ, USA). AAPH (2,2-azobis(2-amidino
propane)dihydrocholride) and soy saponins standard
were obtained from Wako Chemical Co. (Osaka,
Japan). All other chemicals were of analytical grade
and purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Co. (St
Louis, MO, USA).
Preparation of mung bean and soy bean ethanol extract

The mung beans and soy beans were ground into

powders using a Waring blender (Waring Commercial,
Torrington, CT, USA) prior to solvent extraction. The
sample powders (100 g) were placed into cellulose
thimbles (Whatman, Maidstone, UK) and were defatted
using n-hexane (1 L) under reux condition. The defatted dry powder was obtained by a rotary evaporator
(Eyela, Tokyo, Japan) under vacuum at 40 C followed
by freeze-drying (Ilshin Biobase, Seoul, Korea). For
extraction, samples (2 g) were dispersed in a mixture of
HCl (10 m, 10 mL) and ethanol (80%, 40 mL) and were
stirred and sonicated for 1 h. After extraction, the
samples were subjected to centrifugation at 3000 g for
10 min and the clear supernatant was recovered. The
supernatant was evaporated to dryness using a rotary
evaporator and nally redissolved in methanol (80%,
5 mL).
Total phenolic content

The total phenolic contents of mung bean and soy bean

ethanol extracts were determined according to Xu &
Chang (2007) with slight modications. After adding
FolinCiocalteau reagent and sodium carbonate to
aliquots of samples, the mixtures were set in a 40 C

International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2011

The total avonoid content of samples was determined

by Xu & Chang (2007) with slight modications. Briey,
properly diluted samples (1 mL) and NaNO2 (0.3 mL,
5%) were mixed. AlCl3 (10%, 0.3 mL) was added at
5 min and 1 m NaOH (2 mL) was added after one
additional minute. The absorbance readings of samples
were taken at 510 nm. Total avonoid contents were
expressed as milligrams of catechin equivalents (CAE)
per gram of defatted sample.
Total saponin content

Defatted seeds (100 g) were extracted with methanol

(80%, 1 L) under reux condition. The methanol was
removed from the extracts by rotary evaporation and
the extracts were washed with acetone and distilled
water, respectively. The saponin contents of the samples
were determined by the method of Dini et al. (2009)
with slight modications. Briey, aliquots of the samples
(0.1 mL) were mixed with sulphuric acid (72%, 1 mL)
and fresh made vanillin solution (8% in ethanol,
0.1 mL). The mixtures were placed in a 60 C water
bath for 20 min and then cooled in ice cold water. The
absorbances of samples were measured at 544 nm and
saponin content was calculated from a standard curve
constructed with puried soyasaponin standard.
Free radical scavenging activity assay

DPPH radical scavenging activity was determined

according to the method of Blois (1958) with some
modications. DPPH solution (Abs of 0.97 at 520 nm,
0.8 mL) was added to the samples (0.2 mL) and the
mixtures were shaken vigorously and left to stand for
10 min in the dark. ABTS radical scavenging activity
was determined by the procedure reported by van den
Berg et al. (1999). AAPH (1.0 mm) was mixed with
ABTS solution (2.5 mm) in phosphate buered saline
(100 mm, pH 7.4, 150 mm NaCl). The solution was held
in a 70 C water bath for 30 min and the absorbance of
ABTS solution was adjusted to 0.65 at 735 nm. The
samples (20 lL) were mixed with ABTS radical solution
(980 lL) and incubated in a 37 C water bath for
10 min. The free radical (DPPH and ABTS) scavenging
activities were expressed as lmol of Trolox equivalents
per gram defatted samples. All analyses were performed
in triplicate.

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Antioxidant activity of soy bean and mung bean J. H. Lee et al.

Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay

The ferric reducing abilities of samples were determined

by the method of Benzie & Strain (1996). Briey,
aliquots of samples (100 lL) were mixed with ferric
reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) reagent (3 mL) and
absorbance was measured at 593 nm after 6 min of
incubation in a 37 C water bath. The data were
expressed as lmol of FeSO4 equivalents per gram
defatted samples. All analyses were done in triplicate.
Superoxide dismutase-like assay

The superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity of samples were determined by the ability to reduce pyrogallol
autoxidation which catalysed by superoxide anion. The
assay mixture contained pyrogallol solution (2 mm in
10 mm HCl) and the autoxidation of pyrogallol was
monitored at 420 nm. SOD-like activity was calculated
using the following equation (Kim et al., 1995):
SOD% A  B  100=A
where A and B are autoxidation rate of pyrogallol in the
absence and presence of samples, respectively. The
autoxidation rates were obtained from the slope of the
absorbance curve during the initial 2 min of reactions.
b-Carotene-linoleic acid bleaching assay

The antioxidant activities of samples were determined

using a b-carotene linoleic acid model system (Koleva
et al., 2002). Here, b-carotene (3.34 mg mL)1, 1 mL)
dissolved in chloroform was added into linoleic acid
(40 mg) and Tween (400 mg). The chloroform was
removed by a nitrogen stream at 40 C and distilled
water (100 mL) was added to the residue under vigorous
agitation to form an emulsion. The emulsion (5 mL) was
added to an aliquot of sample (0.2 mL) and the
absorbance was measured at 470 nm against a blank
containing the emulsion without b-carotene. The assay
mixture was placed in a 50 C water bath and their
absorbance was measured every 20 min up to 100 min.
The antioxidant activity was calculated using the
following equation:

Results and discussion

Total phenol, flavonoid, and saponin contents

Legumes such as soy beans and mung beans contain

numerous phytochemicals as well as proles and levels
of phenolic compounds and saponins, which are main
contributors governing antioxidant activity. Signicant
dierences were found in the total phenolic, total
avonoid and saponin contents of the soy beans and
mung beans. As shown in Table 1, the mung beans
contained a higher level of phenols (about 4.01 GAE
g)1) than the soy beans (1.17 GAE g)1).
Kumar et al. (2010) reported that the total phenolic
contents of yellow soybean genotypes extracted with
80% acetone were 1.061.54 GAE g)1 and Chung et al.
(2010) reported that soybean extract obtained by 80%
methanol extraction had 2.933.13 mg GAE g)1. Compared to reports regarding the total phenolic contents of
soy beans reports for mung beans are quite limited.
Anwar et al. (2007) reported that the total phenolic
content (80% methanol extract, v v) of six mung bean
cultivars were in the range of 6.210.4 mg GAE g)1 of
hull free seed. In accordance with the results of the
present study Peng et al. (2008) reported that mung
bean ethanol extract had higher phenolic content than
other beans extracts including black bean, soy bean, and
cowpea.
Flavonoids are secondary metabolites of plants.
Structurally, they are benzo-c-pyrone derivatives consisting of polyphenolic and pyrane rings. The total
avonoid content of mung beans (1.49 mg CAE g)1)
was signicantly higher than that of soy beans
(0.41 mg CAE g)1). The total avonoid content in soy
beans was similar to a previous report by Xu & Chang
(2007) who pointed out that total avonoid content
showed signicant variations depending on extraction
method, and was in the range of 0.250.50. The total
avonoid content of mung bean has not been previously
reported. Miean & Mohamed (2001) compared avonoids (myricetin, quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, and
Table 1 Total phenolic, total avonoid and saponin content of soy
beans and mung beans

antioxidant activity
absorbance of sample=absorbance of control  100
Soy bean
Mung bean

Total phenol
content
(mg GAE g)1)

Total flavonoids
content
(mg CAE g)1)

Saponins
content
(mg g)1)

1.13 0.03b
2.03 0.09a

0.41 0.03b
1.49 0.56a

18.56 2.44a
4.31 1.25b

Statistical analysis

All assays were conducted triplicate and the results are

expressed as mean values standard deviations. Signicant dierences (P < 0.05) between samples were
analysed using a t-test.

Total phenolic content is expressed as mg of gallic acid equivalent (GAE)

and total flavonoids is expressed as mg of catechin equivalent (CAE).
Saponin content in the samples is expressed as mg of soyasaponin
equivalents. Different letters in same column indicate significant
difference at P < 0.05.

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Antioxidant activity of soy bean and mung bean J. H. Lee et al.

apigenin) contents of edible plants. The avonoid

contents of soy bean sprouts and mung bean sprouts
were 0.0785 and 0.268 mg g)1, respectively. It is known
that isoavones are dominant avonoids in soy beans.
Soybeans generally contain much greater isoavone
contents (daidzin 25 mg, genistin 34.3 mg per 100 g
seed) than mung bean (daidzin 0.01 mg, genistin
0.37 mg per 100 g seed) (Mazur et al., 1998).
Saponins are chemically characterised by sterol or
triterpene glycosides. Although they are widely distributed in plants the primary dietary sources of saponins
are legumes. Saponin content shows signicant variations even within the same species of edible beans. It is
well known that soy beans have the highest saponins
content of all beans. The saponin content of the soy
beans was 18.56 mg g)1 of defatted sample and slightly
lower than in a previous report (2225 mg g)1 defatted
soy our) of Fenwick & Oakenfull (1981). Saponin
content was 4.5 times greater in soybeans than in the
mung beans.
The constituents and structures of mung bean saponins have not been fully identied. Waller et al. (1999)
reported that mung bean saponins were a mixture of
several triterpenoids (C30 pentacyclic) glycosides and
yielded pentoses, hexoses and uronic acid upon
hydrolysis. Soyasaponin I was identied as a predominant saponin in mung bean and soyasaponin III, 3O-[b-D-galactopyranosyl-(1 2)-b-D-glucuronopyranosyl]
sorphradiol was also found.
Radical scavenging activity

DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities are

widely used methods to test antioxidant activity of
samples. These radicals react with hydrogen donors such
as phenolic compounds and fade colours in assay
solutions. As shown in Table 2, the mung bean extracts
showed signicantly higher radical scavenging activities
than the soy bean extracts. When the scavenging
activities of the two dierent radicals were expressed
as Trolox equivalents, both samples showed greater
scavenging activities for ABTS radicals than DPPH
radicals. This might be due to the reaction rates of
dierent antioxidants to radicals. Huang et al. (2005)
DPPH
scavenging activity
(lmol Trolox g)1
defatted seed)
SB extract
MB extract
SB saponin
MB saponin

3.63
11.33
0.06
0.02

0.04b
0.24a
0.01c
0.01d

ABTS
scavenging activity
(lmol Trolox g)1
defatted seed)
11.07
36.65
0.23
0.05

0.63b
0.63a
0.01c
0.01d

FRAP value
(Fe2+ lmol g)1
defatted seed)
8.23
31.85
0.17
0.01

1.03b
3.03a
0.01c
0.01d

reported that many antioxidants rapidly react with

peroxy radicals involved in lipid peroxidation whereas
their reaction with DPPH radicals were relatively slow
and even inert. Djordjevic et al. (2011) examined the
antioxidant activities of selected cereals and legumes.
The IC50 values for DPPH radical scavenging activity of
soy bean and mung bean extracts (70% ethanol) were
>200 and 152 lg mL)1, respectively.
Although many biological activities of plant saponins including antibacterial, antifungal, antitumor and
anticarcinogenic activities have been examined (Kang
et al., 2010), reports regarding the antioxidant eects
of legume saponins are fairly limited. Recently, Lee
et al. (2010) examined the antioxidant eects of soyasaponin I, the predominant form of soy saponin.
Soyasaponin I showed DPPH radical scavenging
activity in dose dependent manner. The IC50 value of
soyasaponin I (70.2 lm) for DPPH radical scavenging
activity was comparable to that of a-tocopherol
(52.1 lm).
Although soy beans contained 4.5 times greater
saponins content than the mung beans, the antioxidant
activities of the saponins compared to those of extracts
containing phenolic compounds were marginal. In
addition to the total quantity of saponins overall
conformational factors including position and composition of sugar moiety might aect biological activity.
Specific antioxidants capacity

In order to evaluate qualitative dierences in phenolic

proles, the total phenolic contents of the two extracts
were adjusted to be the same and specic antioxidant
activity was calculated from the plot of ABTS free
radical scavenging activity vs. phenolic content. Thus,
the slop of the plot reected the eectiveness of phenolic
compounds to counteract free radicals as indicated by
Jacobo-Velazquez & Ciseneros-Zevallos (2009). As
shown in Fig. 1, the slopes of the two extract showed
signicant dierences and the mung bean extract showed
greater antioxidant capacity than the soy bean extract.
This result suggests that phenolic compounds present in
the mung bean extract were not only in greater quantity
but also had better quality to eliminate radicals.
Table 2 DPPH scavenging activity, ABTS
scavenging activity, FRAP value and SODlike activity of soy beans and mung beans
SOD-like activity (%)
74.25
83.48
26.56
21.28

1.06b
0.88a
2.59c
0.92d

SB, soy bean; MB, mung bean.

Different letters in same column indicate significant difference at P < 0.05.

International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2011

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Antioxidant activity of soy bean and mung bean J. H. Lee et al.

ABTS scavenging activity

(Trolox g mL1)

200
Soy bean
Mung bean

160

120

80

40

0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

FE lmol g)1 of seed. Djordjevic et al. (2011) compared

FRAP values of soy beans and mung beans based on
grams of extract (70% ethanol). The reducing power of
the mung bean extract (24.98 nmol mg)1 extract) was
signicantly greater than that of the soy bean extract
(8.34 nmol mg)1 extract).
Huang et al. (2005) indicated that the redox potential
of Fe(III) salt (0.70 V) was similar to that of ABTS (0.68
V) and very high correlations (r = 0.95, P < 0.01) were
found between DPPH and FRAP in legumes (Xu et al.,
2007). The FRAP values of soy and mung bean
saponins were less than 5% of the reducing power of
their extracts.

Phenol content (g mL1)

Figure 1 Changes in antioxidant activity as a function of phenol

content. Antioxidant activity was measured by ABTS method.

Isoavones are generally regarded as potent antioxidants among dietary avonoids. However, Kumar et al.
(2010) could not nd any positive correlation between
isoavones and radical scavenging activity either. These
data suggest that isoavones may not be as potent as
other phenol compounds present in mung beans. Pietta
(2000) reported that avonols such as quercetin (4.7 mm
TEAC) and, quercetin 3-rutinoside (2.42 mm) found in
mung beans are greater antioxidants than isoavones
such as genistin (2.90 mm), genistin-7-glycoside (1.24
mm) and daidzein (1.25 mm).
Ramarathnam et al. (1989) found that isovitexin in
rice hulls possessed antioxidant activity as strong as
a-tocopherol. Kim et al. (2008) reported that vitexin
(apigenin-8-C-b-glucopyranoside) and isovitexin (apigenin-6-C-b-glucopyranoside) were mainly present in
mung bean seeds at about 51.1 and 51.7 mg g)1,
respectively. Vitexin and isovitexin in mung bean extract
also actively inhibited the formation of glycation products (Peng et al., 2008).
Ferric reducing antioxidant power

Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay

depends on the reduction of ferric (Fe3+) iron to the
ferrous (Fe2+) state in the presence of antioxidant
(Benzie & Strain, 1996). As shown in Table 2, the FRAP
value of the mung bean extracts (32 FE lm g)1 defatted
seed) was signicantly higher than that of the soy bean
extracts (8 FE lmol g)1 defatted seed). According to a
previous report, FRAP values of yellow soy beans
ranged from 11 to 28 FE lmol g)1 while those of black
soy beans and red kidney beans ranged from 12.7 to 99.3
and from 28.5 to 92.2 FE lmol g)1, respectively (Xu &
Chang, 2007; Kumar et al., 2010).
Unfortunately we could not nd a reference to
compare the FRAP value of mung bean expressed in

SOD-like activity

SOD is an enzyme that catalyses a disproportion of

superoxide radicals into hydrogen peroxide and oxygen.
Since this reaction takes place spontaneously and
rapidly SOD-like activity is indirectly determined based
on the extent of the inhibition of pyrogallol autoxidation catalysed by superoxide radicals (Kim et al., 1995).
As shown in Table 2, the soy bean and mung bean
extracts reduced the rate of pyrogallol autoxidation by
70% and 85%, respectively compared to the control.
Dierent from the other antioxidant assays the soy
saponins exhibited signicant SOD like activity and
which correspond to more than 1 3 of the soy bean
extract.
Fernandez-Orozco et al. (2008) examined changes in
SOD-like activity during the germination of soy beans
and mung beans. SOD-like activity varied depending on
the type of seeds and time of germination. However,
systematic comparisons of SOD-like activity among
dierent legumes varieties have never been made.
In terms of the SOD-like activity of saponins, Yoshiki
& Okubo (1995) reported that 2,3-dihydro-2,5dihydroxy-6-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one (DDMP) saponins
showed strong superoxide radical scavenging activity
equivalent to 17.1 units of superoxide dismutase whereas
other soysaponins lacking the DDMP moiety did not
have radical scavenging eects. Yoshiki et al. (1995) also
reported that maltol which has similar structure as the
DDMP moiety showed SOD-like activity beyond 5 mm.
They suggested that the aldehyde moiety at C-28
promoted SOD-like activity.
b-Carotene linoleic acid model system

b-Carotenes bleaching caused by oxidation of an emulsion containing b-carotene and linoleic acid was used as
an index of antioxidant activity. In the assay, radicals
produced by the oxidation of linoleic acid abstract
hydrogen atoms from b-carotenes and the orange colour
disappears as b-carotene loses conjugation. As shown in
Fig. 2, b-carotene bleaching was signicantly reduced in

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Antioxidant activity of soy bean and mung bean J. H. Lee et al.

1.0

0.8

Abs at 470 nm

2518

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0
0

20

40

60

80

100

Time (min)
Control
Soy bean extract
Mung bean extract

Soy bean saponin

Mung bean saponin

However, in the present study, the addition of HCl

during extraction probably converted most of the
isoavone glycosides to corresponding aglycones.
The extent of dierences in antioxidant eect between
the soy bean and mung bean extracts was much smaller
in the b-carotene bleaching assay compared to the other
radical scavenging assays. Partitioning of antioxidant
mixtures in the extracts into dierent medium phases
during emulsion formation could be a reason for this
result. Soy bean saponins which have surface activity
properties also had greater eects in the b-carotene
bleaching assay. The increased antioxidant eect of soy
bean saponins in the emulsion system might be
explained by facilitated migration of surface active
saponins in the oil water interface. Increased occupancy
of saponins at interface probably increased the accessibility of saponins toward radicals.
Conclusion

Figure 2 Antioxidant activity in soy beans and mung beans as

determined by b-carotene bleaching assay. The changes in absorbance

(470 nm) of emulsions by oxidation of b-carotene and linoleic acid
were monitored up to 100 min. () Control, (s) soy bean extract, (.)
mung bean extract, (4) soy bean saponin and ( ) mung bean saponin.

the presence of samples. The greatest antioxidant eect

was found in the emulsion containing mung bean
extract. When the antioxidant eects were expressed as
percent inhibition at 80 min they were 90%, 83%, 61%,
and 23% in the order of mung bean extract, soybean
extract, soy bean saponins, and mung bean saponins,
respectively.
Although it is dicult to know the origin of the
antioxidant eects (either by direct radical scavenging or
by chain breaking) these results suggest that all samples
had signicant antioxidant potential to neutralise linoleic acid free radicals. The interpretation of antioxidant
activity in the b-carotene linoleic acid model system is
rather complex compared to other antioxidant assays
since it deals with antioxidant eects in an oil water
emulsion. The complex interfacial behaviours of antioxidants, such as polarity as well as surface to volume ratio
probably inuence antioxidant eects. Koleva et al.
(2002) reported that antioxidant eects did not show
large variation depending upon polarity in the DPPH
radical assay whereas the b-carotene bleaching assay
exhibited signicant polarity dependence.
Genovese et al. (2005) reported a low correlation
between total phenol content (r = 0.26) or total isoflavones content (r = 0.06) and antioxidant activity in
Brazilian soybean varieties as determined by b-carotene
bleaching assay. They commented that the lack of
correlation could be related to dierences in isoavone proles because aglycone type isoavones have
greater antioxidant activity than isoavone glycosides.

International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2011

There were signicant dierences in phenols, avonoid

and saponin content. The mung bean extract had greater
phenol and avonoid contents than the soy bean extract
and the higher antioxidant activity of the mung bean
extract was veried by several dierent antioxidant
assays. The specic antioxidant activity, which was
evaluated at the same phenolic content suggested that
phenolic compounds present in the mung bean extract
were not only of greater quantity but also had better
quality to eliminate radicals. The radical scavenging activities of saponins were only marginal when
antioxidant activity was expressed on a per gram seed
basis. The saponins showed signicant SOD-like activity
that corresponded to 36% and 25% of the SOD-like
activity in the soy bean and mung bean extracts,
respectively.
Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Technology Development Program for Food (109141-03), and the Ministry
for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Republic
of Korea. This work was also supported by a grant from
Kookmin University received in 2009. The authors are
thankful for the nancial support.
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