Antioxidant Activity and Phytochemical Screening of Costus pictus D. Don Leaf Extracts

The occurrence of chronic diseases is rapidly growing worldwide. Diet and nutrition are significant aspects in the promotion and maintenance of good quality health throughout the whole life span. Overproduction of liberated radicals occurred due to physiological and biochemical changes in our body and then can cause oxidative damage to biocompounds of human body (e.g. lipids, proteins, DNA). Medicinal plant based products exert beneficial properties such as antioxidant, anticancer, hypoglycemic and hypolipidaemic activities so their utilization is increased recently. This study includes preliminary phytochemical screening and quantification of phenol and flavonoid of Costus pictus aqueous (CPAQ) and methanolic (CPME) extracts. DPPH, FRAP, Fe3+ reducing power, and superoxide scavenging assay were used for the estimation of antioxidant potential of leaf extracts CPAQ and CPME. CPME gave the elevated amount of phenol and flavonoid content and antioxidant activities. The antioxidant activity of Costus pictus extracts significantly correlated (P less than 0.05) with the phenolic content. Ascorbic acid used as standard compound and showed maximum antioxidant power in this study.