# Total Polypphenols and Antioxidant Properties of Selected Fresh and Dried Herbs and Spices
## 4 Discussion  
### Total Polyphenols Content  
Polyphenols are secondary plant metabolites involved in the defense of plants against the effects of harmful factors. According to [PERSON] [2], plant extracts rich in polyphenols have a stronger antioxidant effect than vitamin C, tocopherol, or caroten. Herbs and spices are an important source of biologically active substances [7]. Apart from polyphenols, the antioxidant compounds of herbs and spices are represented by flavonoids included in essential oils [31]. Due to the differences in chemical structure, they can be divided into flavonoids, flavononols, flavones, flavanols, flavanones, anthocyanins, and isoflavuoids [31; 34; 35; 36]. Most studies reported the antioxidant activity of a few fresh [37; 38; 39] or dried [1; 5; 34; 40; 41; 42] herbs or food spices. In this study, the content of biologically active components (polyphe \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Herbs and Spices**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Fresh**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Freeze-Dried**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Commercial**} \\ \cline{2-5}  & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Stems**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Leaves**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Company 1**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Company 2**} \\ \hline Basil & 13.21 \(\pm\) 1.21 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 5.80 \(\pm\) 0.42 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 1.59 \(\pm\) 0.42 \({}^{\text{a,A}}\) & * & 4.55 \(\pm\) 0.84 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ Savory & 43.10 \(\pm\) 0.37 \({}^{\text{e}}\) & - & 23.19 \(\pm\) 0.69 \({}^{\text{e}}\) & 34.55 \(\pm\) 1.93 \({}^{\text{f}}\) & - \\ Tarragon & 31.82 \(\pm\) 0.94 \({}^{\text{d}}\) & - & 2.74 \(\pm\) 0.54 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & * & * \\ Ginger & 13.56 \(\pm\) 1.24 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 63.20 \(\pm\) 1.29 \({}^{\text{f}}\) & - & 65.38 \(\pm\) 0.36 \({}^{\text{i}}\) & 71.30 \(\pm\) 0.50 \({}^{\text{g}}\) \\ Dill & 8.46 \(\pm\) 1.10 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & - & * & 37.82 \(\pm\) 0.76 \({}^{\text{g}}\) & 4.17 \(\pm\) 0.42 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ Lovage & 33.08 \(\pm\) 1.38 \({}^{\text{d}}\) & 46.08 \(\pm\) 0.81 \({}^{\text{e}}\) & 1.43 \(\pm\) 0.68 \({}^{\text{a,A}}\) & 43.40 \(\pm\) 1.88 \({}^{\text{h}}\) & 11.43 \(\pm\) 0.86 \({}^{\text{b}}\) \\ Marjoram & 8.12 \(\pm\) 0.87 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 64.15 \(\pm\) 0.84 \({}^{\text{f}}\) & 41.86 \(\pm\) 1.00 \({}^{\text{f,A}}\) & 3.85 \(\pm\) 0.12 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 5.88 \(\pm\) 0.32 \({}^{\text{a}}\) \\ Lemon balm & & 8.20 \(\pm\) 0.68 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 2.08 \(\pm\) 0.66 \({}^{\text{a,b,A}}\) & 4.62 \(\pm\) 0.24 \({}^{\text{d}}\) & - \\ Parsley & 3.18 \(\pm\) 0.79 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 15.26 \(\pm\) 1.27 \({}^{\text{d}}\) & - & 44.00 \(\pm\) 0.73 \({}^{\text{g}}\) & 29.69 \(\pm\) 1.44 \({}^{\text{c}}\) \\ Oregano & 1.49 \(\pm\) 0.42 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 3.33 \(\pm\) 0.62 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & - & 23.08 \(\pm\) 1.37 \({}^{\text{e}}\) & * \\ Rosemary & 11.11 \(\pm\) 1.32 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 5.62 \(\pm\) 0.35 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & 4.23 \(\pm\) 0.56 \({}^{\text{c}}\) & 2.33 \(\pm\) 0.09 \({}^{\text{b}}\) & * \\ Sage & 49.22 \(\pm\) 1.46 \({}^{\text{f}}\) & * & * & - & * \\ Thyme & 74.41 \(\pm\) 0.96 \({}^{\text{g}}\) & - & 9.21 \(\pm\) 0.47 \({}^{\text{d}}\) & 1.35 \(\pm\) 0.17 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & * \\ White mustard & - & - & - & 45.88 \(\pm\) 0.89 \({}^{\text{h}}\) & - \\ Cloves & - & - & - & 38.24 \(\pm\) 0.79 \({}^{\text{g}}\) & - \\ Cumin & - & - & - & 26.53 \(\pm\) 1.18 \({}^{\text{f}}\) & 62.16 \(\pm\) 1.31 \({}^{\text{e}}\) \\ Bay leaf & - & - & - & 1.92 \(\pm\) 0.06 \({}^{\text{a}}\) & 84.78 \(\pm\) 1.97 \({}^{\text{h}}\) \\ Cayenne pepper & - & - & - & 77.33 \(\pm\) 0.61 \({}^{\text{j}}\) & 45.32 \(\pm\) 0.39 \({}^{\text{d}}\) \\ Black pepper & - & - & - & 37.37 \(\pm\) 1.32 \({}^{\text{g}}\) & 67.22 \(\pm\) 2.18 \({}^{\text{f}}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
*:—values in the columns, marked with different letters, differ statistically significantly at \(p\leq\) 0.05. \({}^{\text{a,B}}\)—values in the rows between dried stems and leaves, marked with different letters, differ statistically significantly at \(p\leq\) 0.05. \({}^{\text{*}}\)—undetected value.  
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