Bioactive compounds from several tropical fruits and correlation by multivariate analysis to free radical scavenger activity

Abstract

O alto consumo de frutas tem sido associado à baixa incidência de doenças crônico-degenerativas, provavelmente devido à presença de compostos bioativos, como os antioxidantes, nestes alimentos. Os teores de compostos bioativos -ácido ascórbico, fenólicos totais, flavonóides e carotenóides totais -foram determinados em polpas obtidas a partir de 18 frutas tropicais adquiridas no Brasil. A atividade anti-radical livre foi avaliada pelo método ABTS. As frutas que apresentaram maior teor de compostos bioativos foram buriti, cajá-manga, canistel, murici, physalis, piquia e tucumã. Considerando a composição dos compostos bioativos analisados e as atividades anti-radical livre, as frutas foram divididas em 5 grupos, segundo Análise Hierárquica de Agrupamentos. Aplicando a Análise de Componentes Principais, a atividade anti-radical livre mostrou alta correlação com compostos fenólicos totais (r = 0,99) e flavonóides (r = 0,86); porém, a correlação encontrada foi muito pequena para ácido ascórbico (r = 0,02) e carotenóides totais (r = 0,08).High ingestion of fruits has been associated with low incidence of chronic-degenerative diseases, probably due to the presence of bioactive compounds in these foods, such as antioxidants. The levels of bioactive compounds -ascorbic acid, total phenolics, flavonoids and carotenoids -were determined in 18 pulps obtained from tropical fruits acquired in Brazil. The free radical scavenger activity was evaluated by the ABTS assay. The fruits that showed higher levels of bioactive compounds were buriti, otaheite apple, egg-fruit, golden spoon, physalis, piquia and star nut palm. Considering the composition of bioactive compounds and free radical scavenger capacities the fruits were divided into five groups, according to Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. Applying Principal Component Analysis, free radical scavenger showed high correlation with total phenolic compounds (r = 0.99) and flavonoids (r = 0.86); however, the correlation was found to be very poor with ascorbic acid (r = 0.02) and with total carotenoids levels (r = 0.08).Keywords: ascorbic acid, carotenoids, phenolic compounds, radical scavenger activity, Principal Component Analysis IntroductionBrazil stands out as the third largest world producer of fresh fruits due to a favorable climate and vast territorial land. Fruit growing agribusiness is a rapidly growing activity, present in all Brazilian states, accounting for 25% of the value of domestic agricultural production. In Brazil fruit growing has experienced a remarkable expansion of the harvested area in the latest years, including the native and exotic fruits. The commercialization directed almost exclusively to the internal market, has led to gains in foreign markets, which has been crucial to the improvement of production systems and of the fruit quality.¹ Despite the enormous fruit diversity, Brazil still needs to improve in this area, since the Brazilian participation in world exports of fresh fruit and fruit products amounted only to 5.7% in 2007.²The high ingestion of fruit...

Chemical characterization of the pulp, peel and seeds of cocona (Solanum sessiliflorum Dunal)

“…Table 3 shows the results for ascorbic acid, pH, total solids and titratable acidity (citric acid). The ascorbic acid content was higher than that reported by Barreto et al (2009), who found values of 3% for cocona pulp. The ascorbic acid content of cocona pulp makes the fruit a good source of antioxidants, which can prevent the cell damage caused by oxidation and hence the pulp could be used in the formulation of antioxidant complexes.…”

“…The differences in trace elements found between the present study and that of Barbosa-Pires et al (2006) are due to variability in soil and climatic conditions (crop location, solar cycle and climate) (BARRETO et al, 2009). …”

“…Thus the dry matter, protein and carbohydrate contents of cocona seeds make this residue ideal for developing value-added products. Conversely, the high moisture content of the peel (86.59%) and pulp (92.73%) make these products susceptible to enzymatic and microbiological changes (BARRETO et al, 2009). Therefore, an alternative for cocona pulp and peel would be dehydration by freeze drying or some other drying method.…”

Correlation, by multivariate statistical analysis, between the scavenging capacity against reactive oxygen species and the bioactive compounds from frozen fruit pulps

“…In most of the studies, the antioxidant capacity of fruits is determined using methods based on the deactivation of non-biological radicals, such as 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical (ABTS •+ ) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH • ) (KUSKOSKI et al, 2006;MELO et al, 2008a, b;SANTOS et al, 2008SANTOS et al, , 2010BARRETO;BENASSI;MERCADANTE, 2009;ROP et al, 2010;CONTRERAS-CALDERÓN et al, 2011;MEDINA et al, 2011;FU et al, 2011), which are not present in the biological system and have different properties as compared to the ROS produced in the human body. There are some data available in the literature concerning the scavenging capacity of fruit pulps against peroxyl radicals (ROO OH e H 2 O 2 ; o segundo pela polpa de acerola, com elevado teor de CFT (658,40 mg EAG/100 g polpa) e de AA (506,27 mg/100 g polpa); e o terceiro grupo formado pelas polpas de abacaxi, cacau, cajá, caju, coco, cupuaçu, goiaba, laranja, limão, manga, maracujá, melancia, pitanga, tamarindo, tangerina e umbu, que não puderam ser separadas considerando apenas os teores dos compostos bioativos e a propriedades antioxidantes.…”

Antigenotoxic Effects of Piquiá (Caryocar villosum) in Multiple Rat Organs

“…(local name: piquiá), of the Caryocaraceae family, is a large tree that grows in the virgin forests of the Amazon basin. Piquiá fruit pulp contains high levels of carotenoids, total phenolic compounds and flavonoids and exhibits free radical scavenger activity [1,2]. Considering that piquiá pulp is part of the diet of the Amazon population, studying the pulp may provide important insight for commercializing this fruit for the food industry.…”