Phenolic composition and antioxidant activity of mocan seeds (Visnea mocanera L.f).

The fruits from Visnea mocanera, named also “mocan”, are consumed fresh and in different drinks by the Canary natives (Spain), due to their medicinal and nutritive properties. The “mocan” fruits are small berries containing small seeds, in which analysis, by HPLC-PAD and HPLC-MS, show a high concentration of flavan-3-ols, mainly catechin and procyanidin dimers and trimers. The evaluation of the free radical scavenging activity of the seed extracts and of the individualised compounds shows high antioxidant activity. The flavan-3-ols identified show differences in that activity, depending on the numbers and structure of units forming the procyanidins.