Malva sylvestris is widely used in Mediterranean and European traditional medicine and ethnoveterinary
for the treatment of external and internal inflammation, as well as injuries. Moreover, its use is not only
limited to therapeutic purposes; but also the species is locally regarded as a food wild herb. Considering
that antioxidants and free radical scavengers can exert also an anti-inflammatory effect, the extracts of
different parts of the medicinal/edible plant M. sylvestris (leaves, flowers, immature fruits and leafy flowered
stems) were compared for their nutraceutical potential (antioxidant properties) and chemical composition.
Particularly, mallow leaves revealed very strong antioxidant properties including radicalscavenging
activity (EC50 = 0.43 mg/mL), reducing power (0.07 mg/mL) and lipid peroxidation inhibition
in lipossomes (0.04 mg/mL) and brain cells homogenates (0.09 mg/mL). This part of the plant is also the
richest in nutraceuticals such as powerful antioxidants (phenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, and tocopherols),
unsaturated fatty acids (e.g. a-linolenic acid), and minerals measured in ash content
