In vitro antioxidant, antithrombotic, antiatherogenic and antidiabetic activities of Urtica dioica, Sideritis euboea and Cistus creticus water extracts and investigation of pasta fortification with the most bioactive one.

BACKGROUND: The present work evaluated the in vitro antioxidant, antithrombotic, antiatherogenic and antidiabetic activities of Urtica dioica, Sideritis euboea and Cistus creticus and investigated pasta fortification with the most bioactive one. The methods employed were total phenolic content (TPC) in mg of gallic acid equivalents per g of dried-herb, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) free radical scavenging in mg of dried-herb, cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) in micromol trolox equivalent per g of dried-herb, platelet aggregation inhibition (PAF-PAI); plasma oxidation inhibition (POxI); and alpha glucosidase inhibition (a-GaseI) all in mg of dried-herb. Pasta fortified with the most bioactive herb was also studied for the above activities.

METHODS: Cistus creticus extract was more bioactive (p < 0.05) compared to Sideritis euboea and Urtica dioica in all but antithrombotic assay, where Sideritis euboea was superior to the others (TPC: 37.9 ± 0.56 versus 9.6 ± 0.83 and 5.4 ± 0.70; SA50-ABTS: 0.040 ± 0.001 versus 0.400 ± 0.010 and 0.520 ± 0.008; ACUPRAC: 860 ± 6.23 versus 170 ± 4.25 and 80 ± 3.63; IA50-PAF: 1.8 ± 0.14 versus 1.2 ± 0.10 and 5.2 ± 0.21; POxI: 0.095 ± 0.016 versus 0.216 ± 0.021 and 0.534 ± 0.029; IA50-aGase: 0.2 ± 0.01 versus 2.1 ± 0.16 and 1.7 ± 0.12).

RESULTS: Fortified pasta with cistus creticus extract exhibited significantly higher levels (p < 0.05) in all assays compared to plain pasta (TPC: 0.392 ± 0.064 versus 0.137 ± 0.020; SA50-ABTS: 9.4 ± 0.2 versus 126.9 ± 2.7; ACUPRAC: 5.4 ± 0.5 versus 0.9 ± 0.1; IA50-PAF: 1.87 ± 0.04 versus 2.28 ± 0.06; POxI: 3.21 ± 0.18 versus 12.2 ± 0.73; IA50-aGase: 8.9 ± 1.1 versus 18.2 ± 0.9).

CONCLUSION: The current findings add to the mounting evidence on the potential health benefits to be derived from consuming pasta fortified with herbal extracts and indicate that Cistus creticus could be a raw material for production of fortified pasta with increased nutritional value.