Objective To study the effect of pre-treatment treatment on the antioxidant activity of Camellia oleifera seeds.

Method The C. oleifera seeds were treated with different time and temperature by infrared heating, and the content and antioxidant capacity of Maillard products in C. oleifera seeds and C. oleifera seed kernels were determined before and after treatment.

Result It was found that the formation of Maillard product 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, pyruvic aldehyde, glyoxal and 3-deoxyosucate increased with the prolongation of heating time. The amount of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, pyruvic aldehyde, glyoxal and 3-deoxyosucate in whole seeds were 10.929, 34.620, 11.054 and 36.627 μg·g^-1 respectively after 120 min reaction at 150℃. Their contents in C. oleifera seed kernels were 16.950, 55.217, 20.216 and 72.390 μg·g^-1, respectively, which were 1.55, 1.59, 1.8 and 1.97 times of the former, indicating that the Maillard reaction was occurred mainly in Camellia seed kernels. The test data of the oxidation activity of Maillard products showed that the Maillard reaction products in C. oleifera had antioxidative activity. When reacted at 150℃ for 120 min, the DPPH free radicals and antioxidant activities of C. oleifera seeds and seed kernels reached the highest, which for the former being 99.18% and 81.47%, while that for the latter being 97.44% and 74.97% respectively.

Conclusion The antioxidant activity of C. oleifera seed kernels is stronger than that of whole seed.