A PRELIMINARY STUDY: IN-VITRO ASSAYS TO EVALUATE MALAYSIAN’S COCOA BEANS ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES
Authors: Shahirah, A.* and Aznie Aida, A.
Journal Issue: Malaysian Cocoa Journal, Volume 17 2025
Keywords: Cocoa beans, DPPH, ABTS, antioxidant assay, polyphenols
Published On: 5/11/2025
Abstract
Cocoa beans are well-known for their rich content of polyphenols which contribute significantly to their antioxidant properties. These antioxidants protect against free radical agents and oxidative stress-related diseases. Investigating the antioxidant activity of cocoa beans is essential for understanding their potential health benefits and optimizing processing methods to retain these valuable compounds. This study was conducted to determine which assay is significant to evaluate the antioxidant activity in cocoa beans. Two in-vitro assays namely DPPH and ABTS were used to determine the antioxidant activities on cocoa beans from six different geolocations in Malaysia. Result shows that DPPH assay (p<0.05; F=358.74) and ABTS (p<0.05; F=54.95) was significantly different. The DPPH assay showing clear difference for all 6 samples (p<0.05) with highest antioxidant activity by cocoa beans in Jeli (21.47 ± 0.73a), Tawau (20.06 ± 0.04b), Tenom (16.56 ± 0.18c), Kinabatangan (11.91 ± 0.05d), Hulu Perak (9.90 ± 0.69e) and lowest was Ranau (6.67 ± 0.31f). Meanwhile, ABTS assay shows that Tawau and Jeli cocoa beans has significantly highest antioxidant activity (43.90 ± 1.69a) and (39.35 ± 0.78a) respectively, followed by Ranau (30.30 ± 0.70b) and Tenom (28.65 ± 4.17b), Hulu Perak (22.20 ± 0.98c) and lowest was Kinabatangan (16.05 ± 1.06d). Two-tailed correlation analysis show that DPPH and ABTS assay was positively correlated at 0.679 and (p = 0.015; p<0.05) indicated that the evaluated results was significantly comparable in all assays. Additionally, DPPH was more preferred due to its robustness and more practical with higher significant level for all different cocoa bean samples.