Study on the antioxidant ability of four varieties of Northern highbush blueberry extracts

The total sugar content, total phenolic content, total anthocyanins content and total flavonoids content of four kinds of highbush blueberries methanol extracts were determined through UV-spectrophotometer method. The scavenging DPPH free radical ability of four kinds of blueberries extracts were investigated by in vitro assay. The results demonstrated that Pariot had the highest contents of sugar, phenolics, anthocyanins and flavonoids among the four blueberry cultivars collected at the same time and place, and the value was 9.77%, 1.91mg/g, 0.668mg/g and 0.22mg/g respectively. Nelson had the lowest contents of sugar, phenolics, anthocyanins and flavonoids. The four kinds of methanol extracts of blueberries showed different scavenging abilities against DPPH free radicals. Paroit and Northblue had better DPPH free radical scavenging ability, the value could reach above 30% and the positive correlation among the antioxidant capacity and the content of phenolics, anthocyanins were observed.