Disadvantages Of Antioxidants

Substantial evidence has accumulated and indicated key roles for reactive oxygen species (ROS) and other oxidants in causing numerous disorders and diseases. The evidence has brought the attention of scientists to an appreciation of antioxidants for prevention and treatment of diseases, and maintenance of human health. Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit or delay the oxidation of other molecules by inhibiting the initiation or propagation of oxidizing chain reactions. There are two basic categories of antioxidants, namely, synthetic and natural. In general, synthetic antioxidants are compounds with phenolic structures of various degree of alkyl substitution, whereas natural antioxidants can be phenolic compounds (tocopherols, flavonoids,

It is known in Egypt as the Doum or gingerbread palm which grows to 6 or 9 m and usually has forked stems with fan shaped leaves, 65–75 cm long. It is listed as one of the useful plants of the world (Fletcher, 1997). The trunk of the palm is used for construction, as well as for manufactureof various domestic utensils and the leaves are used to make mats, bind parcels and writing paper. The oblong, yellow-orange apple sized fruit has a red outer skin, a thick, spongy and rather sweet fibrous fruit pulp (mesocarp) that tastes like gingerbread and a large kernel. The fleshy mesocarp of the fruits are eaten and the juice of H. thebiaca (Doum) is popular in Egypt and believed to be good for

While the unripe kernel is edible, the ripe kernel is hard and used only vegetable ivory (Doren, 1997). The rind from the kernel is used to make molasses and ground kernels are used to dress wounds (Cunningham, 1990; Hadiwigeno & Harcharik, 1995). To the peoples of the desert where Doum palms are found, it is life-sustaining and is listed as a famine food. There is a report by USAID (1995) that communities in the Turkana region of Kenya were becoming dependent on wild Doum during the drought years from 1992 to 1994. Previous studies on Doum had focussed on the fruit because, besides its nutritional value, the fruit drink brewed from hot water infusion of the dried fruit pulp is widely consumed as a health tonic and has been valued in the region, for its many anecdotal medicinal properties, for centuries (Martin, 1999). Research on the fruit pulp showed that it contains nutritional trace minerals, proteins and fatty acids, in particular the nutritionally essential linoleic acid (Cook et al.,