Reactive Oxygen Species and Lipid Peroxidation Product-Scavenging Ability of Yogurt Organisms

¹ Department of Food Science, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan

The antioxidative activity of the intracellular extracts of yogurt organisms was investigated. All 11 strains tested, including five strains of Streptococcus thermophilus and six strains of Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus, demonstrated an antioxidative effect on the inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidation. The antioxidative effect of intracellular extracts of 10⁸ cells of yogurt organisms was equivalent to 25 to 96 ppm butylated hydroxytoluene, which indicated that all strains demonstrated excellent antioxidative activity. The scavenging of reactive oxygen species, hydroxyl radical, and hydrogen peroxide was studied for intracellular extracts of yogurt organisms. All strains showed reactive oxygen species-scavenging ability. Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus Lb demonstrated the highest hydroxyl radicalscavenging ability at 234 µM. Streptococcus thermophilus MC and 821 and L. delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus 448 and 449 scavenged the most hydrogen peroxide at approximately 50 µM. The scavenging ability of lipid peroxidation products, t-butylhydroperoxide and malondialdehyde, was also evaluated. Results showed that the extracts were not able to scavenge the tbutylhydroperoxide. Nevertheless, malondialdehyde was scavenged well by most strains.

Key Words: Streptococcus thermophilus • Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus • reactive oxygen species • lipid peroxidation products

Submitted on September 1, 1998
Accepted on March 26, 1999

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