Phenolics and Antioxidant Properties of Fruit Pulp and Cell Wall Fractions of Postharvest Banana (Musa acuminata Juss.) Cultivars

Abstract

Banana fruits are important foods, but there have been very few studies evaluating the phenolics associated with their cell walls. In the present study, (+) catechin, gallocatechin, and (-) epicatechin, as well as condensed tannins, were detected in the soluble extract of the fruit pulp; neither soluble anthocyanidins nor anthocyanins were present. In the soluble cell wall fraction, two hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives were predominant, whereas in the insoluble cell wall fraction, the anthocyanidin delphinidin, which is reported in banana cell walls for the first time, was predominant. Cell wall fractions showed remarkable antioxidant capacity, especially after acid and enzymatic hydrolysis, which was correlated with the total phenolic content released after the hydrolysis of the water-insoluble polymer, but not for the posthydrolysis water-soluble polymer. The acid hydrolysis released various monosaccharides, whereas enzymatic hydrolysis released one peak of oligosaccharides. These results indicate that banana cell walls could be a suitable source of natural antioxidants and that they could be bioaccessible in the human gut.

Resistant Starch and Bioactive Contents of Unripe Banana Flour as Influenced by Harvesting Periods and Its Application

“…The unripe banana flours from 75 to 105 days had a significantly higher level of TPC (3.23-3.48 mg GAEg −1 ) while TPC from flour of banana 120 days was reduced to 2.59 mg GAEg −1 . The concentration of TPC in this study was slightly different compared with the report of (Bennett et al, 2010), who found that the TPC of banana (Terra cultivar) was 6.50-9.90 mgg −1 . This may due to the variation of varieties, growing season, postharvest treatment and growing management.…”

“…The total acidity, pH and reducing sugar of green banana flour in this study were comparable to that studied by Bennett et al (2010). The starch is converted to sugars as the banana fruit starts to ripen.…”

Antioxidant effcacy of unripe banana (Musa acuminata Colla) peel extracts in sunflower oil during accelerated storage

“…FFA value of sunfl ower oil supplemented with unripe banana peel extracts, BHA and α-tocopherol under accelerated storage at 65°C for 24 days. Different letters within each storage period denote that they are signifi cantly different (p < 0.05) (Bennett et al, 2010;Lim et al, 1997;Sulaiman et al, 2011). However, literature on the phytochemical profi les of the peel and pulp of bananas is still scarce and inconsistent.…”

Impact of resistant starch in three plantain (Musa AAB) products on glycaemic response of healthy volunteers

“…A high level of resistant starch in the RRP (20.8 ± 1.9, n = 3, - Table 2) appears to be a possible reason for the observed low GI. Nevertheless, this is not conclusive because of the presence of other food components in the food matrix such as fibre [27], polyphenols [28] and cell wall and/or components [29]. Further investigations on the possible reasons for the observed low GI of ripe raw plantain are therefore required.…”