A Study of the Chemical Composition and Biological Activity of Extracts from Wild Carrot (Daucus carota l.) Seeds Waste

Waste (wild carrot seeds, Daucus carota L.) formed after the industrial extraction of 96% ethanol were re-extracted with 40% and 70% ethanol in order to recover of valuable substances for potential use as a safe food additives and functional food ingredients or nutraceuticals. In this study we compared chemical composition and activity of two obtained extracts (70% EtOH and 40% EtOH). The results indicated that the 70% EtOH extract has a higher total phenol and flavonoid content than 40% EtOH extract. The antioxidant activity of 70% EtOH extract was 86.88 % +/- 3.018, whereas of 40% EtOH extract scavenging activity was 78.72% +/- 3.276. The extracts were also active against bacteria with MIC against 2 Gram-positive bacteria being in the range of 1.56-3.125 mg/mL and against 3 strains of Gram-negative bacteria of 3.125-12.50 mg/mL whereas against 1 strain of yeast in the range of 3.125-6.25 mg/mL. The results obtained from the studies on photo-protective activity clearly show that the incorporation of wild carrot extract into gel formulation can be used to prepare some types of sunscreens.