Blueberries and Their Anthocyanins: Factors Affecting Biosynthesis and Properties

Abstract

Blueberry is one of the most popular fruits in North America and rich in anthocyanins. Its content in anthocyanins contributes to the health-beneficial effects of blueberry against several chronic diseases including cardiovascular disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, and cancer. This paper summarizes various facts presenting blueberry as a fruit with huge potential for increased future consumption as a health-enhancing food. Factors affecting the biosynthesis of the various anthocyanins in blueberries, including agronomic and genetic factors, and the possible pathways of biosynthesis of the major anthocyanins present in this plant are discussed. The important health-beneficial effects associated with blueberry anthocyanins, properties of these anthocyanins leading to the beneficial effects, and food processing parameters leading to the depletion of the amounts of anthocyanins present in the final processed products are also briefly discussed. Furthermore, the general methods of extraction and analyses that have been reported for being successfully applied to blueberry anthocyanins are also reviewed.Practical Application: Blueberries are well known for their nutritional and beneficial health effects, however, information concerning the physiology behind the blueberry beneficial effects is still lacking. There is little or no information on the characterization of growing conditions on anthocyanins in blueberries and research is lagging behind on advanced methods of extracting blueberry anthocyanins.

Qualitative Performance and Consumer Acceptability of Starch Films for the Blueberry Modified Atmosphere Packaging Storage

“…Duke was confi rmed as a valuable source of potentially healthy compounds; in fact, the total anthocyanin content at harvest was of 223.86 mg C 3 G /100 g FW. Although many studies have been performed, the effects of the storage time and temperature on the behavior of the anthocyanin contents are not well known [Kalt et al, 1999;Routray & Orsat, 2011] and the CO 2 -enriched atmospheric effects on their stability are also uncertain [Wang, 2007]. Our data show that for all fi lms used, the degradation rate of anthocyanins increases as the temperature rises according to previous studies [Routray The data were expressed on means(%)±standard error.…”

Valorisation of raspberry and blueberry pomace through the formulation of value-added gluten-free cookies

“…Substitution of 30 % of gluten-free flour mixture with different proportion of raspberry and blueberry pomace led to increase in cookies darkness and redness and decrease in yellowness (data not shown). The increase of blueberry pomace content in cookie formulation led to decrease in b * values, indicating the presence of characteristic blue anthocyanins such as 3-glycosidic derivatives of delphinidin, malvidin and petunidin (Routray and Orsat 2011). Addition of raspberry pomace in formulation increased the redness of cookies, due to the presence of characteristic red pigment cyaniding-3-sophoroside (Chen et al 2007).…”

Antibacterial and antioxidant activities of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) in vitro

“…Previous studies demonstrated that plants with high content of anthocyanins, had significant antibacterial effect (Hearst et al, 2010). In vitro studies indicate that anthocyanins and other polyphenols in berries could be substantial in the treatment of heart disease (Basu et al, 2010;Routray and Orsat, 2011), including antioxidant (Denev et al, 2010) and antiadhesion activity against bacteria (Huttunen et al, 2011). Compounds such as quercetin and phenolic acids could play an important role in the possible health effects of berries (Paredes-López et al, 2010).…”