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The chemical composition and antioxidant activities of wild and cultivated Laurus nobilis leaves and Foeniculum vulgare subsp. piperitum seeds were determined. Differences were found in the total phenolic content of fennel. GC-MS analysis of the non polar fractions showed a different composition between wild and cultivated plants. Cultivated laurel had a high content of terpenes such as linool, a a-terpinol, a a-terpinyl acetate, thymol, caryophyllene, aromandrene, selinene, farnesene, and cadinene, while wild laurel had a high content of eugenol and methyl eugenol, vitamin E, and sterols. The antioxidant potential of the extracts was determined using three complementary methods. Wild plants showed greater radical scavenging activity than the cultivated plants. The extracts also exhibited a significant antioxidant capacity also in the b b-carotene-linoleic acid test system. A high level of antioxidant activity was observed in wild laurel (IC 50 ‫1؍‬ m mg/ml). Significant antioxidant activity measured in bovine brain was observed in wild laurel.

Lipids are essential compounds for all living organisms. Agents that inhibit fat digestion are of theoretical benefit in the treatment of obesity. A total of 18 species (21 hydroalcoholic extracts) of edible plants from Calabria region (Italy) were evaluated for their in vitro pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity. Lipase activity was measured by monitoring the hydrolysis of p-NPC, which releases the yellow chromogen, p-nitrophenol. The aqueous ethanol extracts of Portulaca oleracea (leaves) and Silene vulgaris (leaves) exhibited the strongest inhibitory effect on lipase. The amounts of total phenolics, measured by Folin-Ciocalteu method, varied widely in the different analysed extracts and ranged from 29 to 482 mg/g of extract. In this study, the findings do not show any relationship between lipase inhibitory activity and total phenolic content.