View article

This article describes the principles and limitations of methods used to investigate reactive oxygen species (ROS) protective properties of dietary constituents and is aimed at providing a better understanding of the requirements for science based health claims of antioxidant (AO) effects of foods. A number of currently used biochemical measurements aimed of determining the total antioxidant capacity and oxidised lipids and proteins are carried out under unphysiologcial conditions and are prone to artefact formation. Probably the most reliable approaches are measurements of isoprostanes as a parameter of lipid peroxidation and determination of oxidative DNA damage. Also the design of the experimental models has a strong impact on the reliability of AO studies: the common strategy is the identification of AO by in vitro screening with cell lines. This approach is based on the assumption that protection towards …