Patent ID: 6841060

Claim:
A method for determining relative amounts of simple soluble dietary antioxidants versus complex tannins in an aqueous liquid sample at room temperature comprising the steps of: providing an aqueous liquid sample containing dietary material or a biological fluid to be tested; contacting the sample with an aqueous solution of elemental iodine and polyvinylpyrrolidone at room temperature to form a mixture; measuring a concentration of iodide ions at room temperature in the mixture at a plurality of time points over a time period after the contacting step by means of an iodide selective electrode; and measuring a slope of increase of the iodine ions over a time period from a first time Doint of about one minute from the contacting step to a later time point, wherein a shallow slope is indicative of simple soluble dietary antioxidants and a steep slope is indicative of complex tannins in said sample.