Common thistle contains water-soluble substances that are antioxidative to foods. Antioxidant activities measured by DPPH method for the ground samples were the greatest in leaves, although was less than that of commonly used antioxidants, BHT and ascorbic acid. Methanol extracts and fractions from Xanthium occidentale plants dose-dependently increased DPPH free radical scavenging activity, in vitro test. The extracts from leaves showed the strongest antioxidant activity. DPPH scavenging activity of the individual fraction was in order of n-butanol>water>ethyl acetate>n-hexane fraction. By means of HPLC analysis, leaf samples of Xanthium occidentale had the highest amount of phenolic compounds, related with antioxidant activity, and followed by stems and roots. Total content of these antioxidant phenolic compounds for leaves extracts were detected in water fraction (36.7 mg 100 $g^{-1}$) as the greatest amount, especially chlorogenic acid (39.4 mg 100 $g^{-1}$) was the greatest component. These results suggest that Xanthium occidentale plants had potent antioxidant activity, and their activities were differently exhibited depending on plant part and fraction.
