Simultaneous evaluations over the whole practical range of peroxidation, including the initiation and propagation phases, provide more informative and reliable data than single-parameter analyses being mostly employed only over the course of the initiation phase. Besides an overview on the dominant mechanisms governing the initiation and propagation phases, this article highlights a number of unifying parameters that represent inclusively the two phases. Then, the reliable method to calculate induction period and critical reverse micelle concentration of lipid hydroperoxides as the two interstitial parameters when transitioning from the initiation to the propagation phase is reviewed. Next, a reconsidered form of the conventional methodology on the kinetics of chain-breaking antioxidants is presented. After that, the Arrhenius kinetic and thermodynamic Eyring-Polanyi parameters calculated from the initiation, composite, and decomposition rate constants are compared in order to assess oxidative stabilities. Finally, shelf-life predictions based on a number of proposed end-points of peroxidation are addressed.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Arrhenius; Eyring-Polanyi; Lipid hydroperoxides; Oxidizability; Shelf-life.