Chemical composition and antioxidant capacity of Lebanese molasses pomegranate

Recently, nutritional and pharmaceutical benefits of pomegranate have raised a growing scientific interest. Our present work aimed, for the first time, to investigate the importance of the Lebanese pomegranate molasses. For that, we determined the chemical composition of six samples of molasses provided from different sources to know their contents in secondary metabolites having medical importance. Then the antioxidant capacity has been evaluated for the six samples. Chemical composition of pomegranate molasses was determined using a standard phytochemical screening. Total phenolic and total flavonoids contents have been evaluated using the Folin-Ciocalteau reagent and the aluminum chloride method respectively. Finally, free radical scavenging activity of molasses was evaluated using DPPH assay. The obtained results of the phytochemical screening of molasses pomegranate indicated the presence of various secondary metabolites such phenols, flavonoids, resins, and saponin in the different studied molasses. Also, all samples showed a higher antioxidant capacity reaching 90 %. Considering properties of the identified major compounds with the higher antioxidant power of the studied samples, molasses pomegranate could be used in the medicine field including the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry.