Haanj: The Rice Based Alcoholic Beverage of Assam, India as Dietary Antioxidant

ABSTRACT “Haanj”, is an alcoholic beverage prepared by the Ahom community people of Assam, India, mainly based on rice. For preparation of the fermentation cakes (FC) of “Haanj”, various medicinal plants and herbs are also mixed. Five “Haanj” samples were analysed for total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AOA). TPC was measured by Folin-Ciocalteu (FC) method expressing as mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/L of “Haanj” samples and AOA was determined by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), ABTS {2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothaiaziline-6-sulfonate)} and deoxy ribose method. All samples showed significant AOA and a good correlation was obtained between TPC and AOA. The amount of TPC was found in the range of 2.834 ± 0.005mg GAE/L to 4.997 ± 0.003 mg GAE/L. One (BR-4) of the samples showed highest AOA and TPC compared to the other tested “Haanj” samples. Electrochemical measurement of antioxidant activity of “Haanj” samples were also determined by monitoring the change of oxidation potential in the redox cycle of 1,4-diaminobenzene in presence of “Haanj” samples by using cyclic voltammetry (CV). The results of this study indicate that “Haanj” is an important dietary source of phenolic compounds with significant AOA.