Contribuição da vitamina C, carotenóides e compostos fenólicos no potencial antioxidante de produtos comerciais de açaí e cupuaçu

Abstract

One of the sections that is showing constant growth is the fresh fruits and their derived, therefore these besides feeding, show certain constituent that can aid as coadjutant in the prevention of certain diseases. One of those constituent ones are called antioxidants, that are waking up great interest so much for the consumers as for the scientific community for the probable beneficial effects that can bring health. The Amazon has a rich patrimony in biodiversity, and due to that fact, it becomes one of the areas that wakes up the curiosity in scientists. Among the fruits found in the Amazon we have açaí and cupuaçu, that having plenty of particular characteristics and being exotics they still need to be quite studied, besides, those fruits are at a market with constant growth so much at national level as international. This work aimed to characterize commercial products of açaí and cupuaçu, correlating the contribution of the vitamin C, carotenoids and fenolics compounds in the potential antioxidant of those products, still verifying the referring parameters to the quality of the obtained products. Determinations of soluble solids were made (ºBrix), pH, acidity, and total sugars reducers, activity of water, color, vitamin C, total anthocyanins, total carotenoids, total compounds and potential fenolics antioxidant. At the end of the study it was verified that all the analyzed samples presented significant difference in all the analyzed parameters. For açaí samples, the parameters that presented results with plenty difference between the pure pulps and the added pulp of preservative and sucrose were the total acidity value, soluble solids (ºBrix), total sugars, sugars reducers and sugars no-reducers. The açaí pulps had elevated values for the parameter of antioxidant potential, besides, they also present an important vitamin source C, could be considered, therefore, a product with good functional allegations. In relation to the parameters stipulated for cupuaçu pulp, all are inside of the values proposed for pH and all the pulps are out of the parameters proposed for vitamin C. The values of total carothenoids, as well as the one of potential antioxidant of the cupuaçu products was relatively low when compared with the ones of the açaí pulps, and they were not found values of total anthocyanins in these cupuaçu products. The compositions total fenolics presented significant and positive correlation with the antioxidant potential in the pure pulps of açaí as in the pure pulps of cupuaçu. In the case of the pulps of pure açaí, the anthocyanins also presented significant and positive correlation