Abstract
Though many methods are available for the efficacy testing of antioxidants, a satisfactory method has not been established yet, because the conventional methods require a long experimental time, considerable technical skill, or large and expensive apparatus. We have established a new method based on the air-oxidation of linoleic acid, one of the essential fatty acids, by air bubbling (2h incubation at 60°C with 500ml/min air flow rate). Good reproducibility and low variation were obtained by this method. Six tested antioxidants (ascorbic acid, ascorbyl stearate, butyl hydroxyanisole, dibutyl hydroxytoluene, propyl gallate, α-toco-pherol) inhibited the oxidation of linoleic acid proportionally to their added concentration. The relative efficacies of the six antioxidants were broadly in agreement with expection.
