Back to posters Antioxidant Capacity from Vanilla   María del Pilar Cañizares Macías, Adalith Rojas López                            Facultad de Química, Departamento de Química Analítica,                Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F., 04510, México.         Phenolics compounds widely distributed in medicinal plants, spices, vegetables, fruits, grains, pulses and other seeds are an important group of natural antioxidants with potential beneficial effects on human health. They can participate in protection against the harmful action of reactive oxygen species, mainly oxygen free radicals which are produced in higher amounts in a lot of pathological conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.       Vanilla is used in preparation of food and it is used in a low concentration (0.1-1.0% of 1 fold), but this amount is enough to obtain the characteristic vanilla flavour, which is principally caused by vanillin which is a phenol. But phenols are not the only compounds with antioxidant proprieties therefore many food with lower phenols concentration can have a higher antioxidant capacity.       In this research, a study about antioxidant capacity (AC) from vanilla extracts was carried out. The AC was measured with respect to caffeic acid by its reaction with 2,2’-azobis(2-methylpropionamide) dihydrochloride (AAPH).       The results showed that the extracts obtained by traditional curing process had the highest AC when they were measured after curing 20 days (54.13 mg/g cured bean). Although the AC and the vanillin concentration were simultaneously increased they did not do in the same proportion. Green beans were also analyzed and the results showed that they had a lower of vanillin (0.27 %) and an antioxidant capacity of 16.74 mg/g green bean. A study using a 100 µg/mL vanillin standard showed that its AC was not high (0.38 g/L); therefore, even though vanillin is the majority compound from vanilla other compounds, both in green and cured vanilla beans, get important too. The results were also compared with obtained in cacao and in green coffee.