Abstract Background Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of many degenerative diseases. Antioxidant compounds can potentially be derived from plant sources. Consequently, investigations are been focused on plants as potential sources of treatments for oxidants-induced diseases. Some class of compounds that have been reported in many medicinal plants includes phenolics, alkaloids, saponins, tannins and terpenoids. Amaranthus belong to a more complex Amaranthaceae family and are widely used as leaf vegetables around the world. Interest has grown towards the search of Amaranthus species as potential sources of antioxidants. Hypothesis Compounds that can break the chain reaction initiated by reactive oxygen species are vital in treating and preventing disease caused by ROS. Method In this review, we did a comprehensive literature search on research articles published on the antioxidant activity of some Amaranthus species and in-vitro antioxidant assays. Results To establish the antioxidant potential of a plant, researchers customarily used more than a single evaluation method. Remarkable success has however been made using different evaluation methods in establishing the radical scavenging and antioxidant activities of some Amaranthus species. Some of the conventional methods enumerated in this write-up assessed the antioxidant activity by monitoring the radical scavenging activity of the plant extracts. Conclusions The antioxidant activity of the Amaranthus family has been reported to contribute largely to the various medicinal values. This review further outlined the antioxidant properties of Amaranthus species vis-a-vis their health benefits.

中文翻译：

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苋科苋属植物的抗氧化活性——综述

摘要 背景 活性氧 (ROS) 与许多退行性疾病的发病机制有关。抗氧化化合物可能来自植物来源。因此，研究的重点是植物作为治疗氧化剂引起的疾病的潜在来源。已在许多药用植物中报道的某些类别的化合物包括酚类、生物碱、皂苷、单宁和萜类化合物。苋菜属于一个更复杂的苋科，在世界范围内被广泛用作叶菜。人们越来越关注寻找苋属植物作为抗氧化剂的潜在来源。假设 能够打破由活性氧引发的连锁反应的化合物对于治疗和预防由 ROS 引起的疾病至关重要。方法 在本次审查中，我们对发表的关于某些苋属植物抗氧化活性和体外抗氧化试验的研究文章进行了全面的文献检索。结果 为了确定植物的抗氧化潜力，研究人员通常使用不止一种评估方法。然而，在确定某些苋属植物的自由基清除和抗氧化活性方面，使用不同的评估方法取得了显着的成功。这篇文章中列举的一些常规方法通过监测植物提取物的自由基清除活性来评估抗氧化活性。结论 据报道，苋菜科的抗氧化活性对各种药用价值有很大贡献。