Functional foods are similar to conventional food and demonstrate beneficial effects
beyond their nutritional value. These effects are attributed to the presence of functional
ingredients. Functional ingredients can either be found naturally in a c
ertain food or added
to it. There’s a number of functional food products available in the market. For example,
natural functional juices containing polyphenols. The aim of this study is to determine total
phenolic content and antioxidant activity in some local functional juices. Total phenolic
content was determined according to Folin- Ciocalteu method. The highest in content was
mulberry juice, while the lowest was red grape juice. The best conditions for eliminating
ascorbic acid were also determined which were heating for
30 min at 75°C. Antioxidant activity was subsequently determined using potassium
ferricyanide. The highest in phenolic content among the studied juices were the highest in
antioxidant activity. Thus a strong correlation was found between total phenolic content
and antioxidant activity.
