Isolation and Analysis of Antioxidant Phytochemicals from Black Chokeberry, Maqui, and Goji Berry Dietary Supplements

The analysis of antioxidant and potentially cancer chemopreventive, or cytoprotective, phytochemicals that were isolated from berries including black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), maqui (Aristotelia chilensis), and goji (Lyceum barbarum) has been reported recently. This chapter describes the research conducted, rationale, and draws connections from the summation of all three projects. For example, the re-isolation of some phytochemicals from multiple dietary supplement ingredients highlights the need for dereplication methods to be used in the course of research, yet understanding the distribution of these molecules in human dietary and supplementation ingredients remains important. The observation of low- and sub-micromolar ED50 (concentration yielding half efficacy) values for hydroxyl radical-scavenging and CD (concentration required to double activity) values for quinone-reductase inducing in vitro activities, summarized for the molecules isolated, highlights the potential health impact of phytochemicals from dietary supplement ingredients such as the three berries examined. Some of the phytochemicals described should eventually be evaluated in vivo for bioactivities, metabolism, and pharmaceutical properties, and can serve as marker compounds for chemical analysis.