## 1 Introduction  
In the European Union, the area under cultivation of herbal plants is about 70,000 sq. h., and the main producers are France, Spain, Austria, Germany and Poland [1]. Peppermint, lemon balm and lavender are popular species of herbs grown in Poland. These three species of herbs belong to the same botanical family, _Lamiaceae_, formerly called _labiaceae_[2]. The _Lamiaceae_ plant family is known as an abundant source of bioactive substances, which include, among others, phenolic compounds [3, 4], and has many medicinal properties [5, 6]. The antioxidant effect of herbs is particularly desirable in the diet called the \"Western diet\" due to its richness in easily oxidizable fatty acids. The oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids causes the formation of free radicals, which are harmful in larger amounts for human organisms [7]. In the group of phenolic compounds, phenolic acids deserve special attention as they can prevent the development of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's [8], inflammation, diabetes and cancer [5, 8].  
Due to the high oxygen demand, the brain is the most susceptible organ to oxidative damage [9; 10; 11; 12]. The brain's defense system can be modulated by antioxidants like polyphenols. Natural antioxidants from plants are widely recognized as having protective effects from free radicals in the human organism by reducing or reversing cellular damage and slowing the rate of neuronal cell loss [8; 10; 11]. The studies provided herein provide evidence for the neuroprotective influence of the herbs examined in this research, specifically lemon balm, lavender and peppermint [8; 12].  
The growing threat of lifestyle diseases stimulates the search for better methods for determining antioxidant activity [13]. The extraction method is of fundamental importance for obtaining the desired bioactive chemical components from plant material and their subsequent characterization [14]. The efficiency of active compounds depends on the extraction method, grinding of the raw material and the properties of the extraction solvent [15]. Each plant material has its own characteristic properties in terms of phenolic extraction [16]. The need to choose the most appropriate extraction methodology results from the fact that when different methods are used for the same plant material using the same solvent, the extraction efficiency may vary significantly [17]. According to [PERSON] et al. [18], the cheapest way to obtain plant extracts is water extracts, although better results are observed when using ethanol or methanol, especially when acidified [19; 20]. There are also few studies comparing the nutritional value of herbs and the polyphenic composition of plants produced in the same soil, climatic and agotechnical conditions. Comparison of the antioxidant capacity of various extracts of the studied herb species produced under the same conditions, especially in the context of their subsequent use as functional food ingredients, is interesting from both a technological and nutritional point of view [19; 20]. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine and compare the antioxidant properties of various extracts obtained from peppermint, lemon balm and lavender cultivated in the same agotechnical, climatic and soil conditions against the background of their basic composition.