Anti- and pro-oxidant activity of Cichorium genus vegetables and effect of thermal treatment in biological systems.

The antiradical activity of water soluble components in six vegetables belonging to the Cichorium genus, i.e., three cultivars of red
intybus species var. silvestre (Treviso, Chioggia, Verona red chicories), a white intybus species var. foliosum (Belgian chicory), and
two vegetables of the endivia species var. latifolium (escarole chicory) and var. crispum (‘‘crispa’’ chicory), were studied using two
biological systems consisting of: (1) microsome membrane rat hepatocyties in which oxidative damage was induced by CCl4; (2)
gram-positive bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus cultures, subjected to damage with cumene hydroperoxyde. The obtained results
show that in both systems the red vegetables possess the strongest antioxidant properties and contain different antioxidant compounds
whether at a low or high molecular weight, but only those of high molecular-weight (MW > 3500 Da) are able to act as
antioxidants in all the used systems. The lower MW fraction (MW < 3500 Da) showed itself to be pro-oxidant in the microsome
system. The effects of thermal treatments such as boiling, freezing and freeze-drying were also investigated.