DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v25i2.87

Keywords: SPF; plant extract; phenolic content; antioxidant activity; photoprotective agent

Abstract

Excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation causes various skin problems, including skin cancer. Sunscreen, which contains UV filters, plays an important role in preventing sun damage. Sunscreen protects the skin from UV-induced damage as it absorbs or reflects UV radiation. Nevertheless, continuous exposure to chemical and physical UV filters can result in numerous adverse effects on the skin and the environment. An emphasis has been placed to incorporate natural components such as fruit and vegetable extracts in sunscreen due to their absorption in the UV region, and antioxidant properties. This study aims to evaluate the potential use of Malaysian fruits and vegetables as photoprotective agents by determining their sun protection factor (SPF), total phenolic contents, and antioxidant activity. Five fruit samples, guava, star fruit, sapodilla, dragon fruit, water apple, and five vegetable samples, tomato, brinjal, torch ginger, sweet potato, and onion were analysed for their SPF. The photoprotective activity was recorded using the spectrophotometric method and calculations were done using the Mansur equation. The phenolic content and antioxidant activity of all samples were assessed using the Folin-Ciocalteu method and DPPH radical scavenging assay, respectively. Among all fruit tested, the SPF of guava was found to be the highest, followed by star fruit, sapodilla, dragon fruit, and water apple. While among the vegetables, the onion had the highest SPF followed by torch ginger, brinjal, sweet potato, and tomato, at a concentration of 0.5-1.0 mg/ml. A strong correlation was found between SPF with concentration (r = 0.95-0.99, p < 0.05), a weak correlation between SPF with TPC (r = 0.02, p > 0.05), and a moderate correlation between TPC with DPPH (r = 0.46, p > 0.05). The study shows the possibility to incorporate several selected plant extracts into sunscreen in pharmaceutical preparations.