Antioxidant activity of some spice essential oils on linoleic acid oxidation in aqueous media

Some spice essential oils (caraway, clove, cumin, rosemary, sage and thyme) and their major constituents were added to emulsified linoleic acid in aqueous media to examine their antioxidant activity. The methods used for measuring linoleic acid oxidation were coupled oxidation of β-carotene, conjugated diene formation and thiobarbituric acid test. The essential oils under study possess an antioxidant effect and this phenomenon was increased by increasing their concentration. Generally, the effectiveness of the various essential oils on linoleic acid oxidation was in the following descending order: caraway >sage>cumin>rosemary>thyme>clove. It appears that there was a relationship between the antioxidant effect and the chemical composition of the oils. © 1989 the American Oil Chemists' Society.