Antioxidant properties and phenolic profiles of four Chinese Za wines produced from hull-less barley or maize: Antioxidant properties and phenolic profiles of four Chinese Za wines

As an ancient low-alcohol beverage, Za wine (ZW) is very popular in the Qiang ethnic minority areas of China. Za wine has been claimed to possess health-promoting effects, which may be associated with its antioxidant (AO) activity in vivo. In this study, the total AO capacity, DPPH radical and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, and reducing capacity for two traditional Za wines (TZW-L and TZW-W) produced from hull-less barley and two commercial Za wines (CZW-H and CZW-M) produced from hull-less barley and maize, respectively, were determined. Total phenolics (TP) and total flavonoids (TF) of ZW were measured, and the phenolic compounds were identified and quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A Chinese yellow wine (YW) produced from rice and wheat was used as a reference. The results indicated that ZW had effective antioxidant activity, with CZW-H exhibiting the greatest AO activity amongst the wines analysed. Significant differences were also observed between TZW-L, TZW-W, CZW-M and YW in some of the AO assays (p< 0.05). The results also showed that TP (TF) content varied from 137.15 mu g gallic acid equivalent/mL (34.12 mu g/mL; CZW-M) to 177.85 mu g gallic acid equivalent/mL (56.38 mu g/mL; CZW-H), and that TP positively correlated to AO activity, suggesting that phenolic compounds could be major contributors to the AO activity of ZW. HPLC results indicated that protocatechuic acid and ferulic acid were the major phenolic compounds in TZW-L, TZW-W and CZW-H, whereas syringic acid and p-hydroxybenzoic acid were the dominant phenolic compounds in CZW-M. Copyright c 2013 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling