To explore the chemicals responsible for the health benefits of guava, water-soluble polysaccharides were extracted including GP90 and P90. They exhibited excellent α-glucosidase inhibition activity with an EC50 of 2.27 μg/mL and 0.18 mg/mL. This suggests that their activities were 1379- and 17-fold higher than the positive control. The DPPH scavenging activities of GP90 was even higher than Vc at some concentrations. Upon further isolation, a novel polysaccharide termed GB90-1B was obtained. Monosaccharide analysis, methylation analysis, and NMR were used to analyze the structural characterization of GB90-1B. Structural analysis revealed that its backbone consisted of (1→5)-linked-α-l-arabinose, (1→2,3,5)-linked-α-l-arabinose and (1→3)-linked-α-l-arabinose. Branch linkages included (1→6)-linked-α-d-glucose, (1→)-linked-α-d-glucose and (1→)-linked-α-l-arabinose. The structure of the repeating unit of GP90-1B was predicted. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.