Define Antioxidant Action of Polyphenols?

The properties of Polyphenols due to which they have been identified to act as antioxidant is because they:

- act as terminators of free radicals by rapid donation of H atoms,

- chelate metal ions like iron and copper,

- act as terminators of propagation,

- quench reactive oxygen species and reactive N² species,

- inhibit lipoxygenase and cyclo-oxygenase enzymes, and

- inhibit damage by haemprotein/peroxide mixtures.