Avaliação da capacidade antioxidante e conteúdo de compostos fenólicos de frutas vermelhas submetidas a processamentos por calor (micro-ondas, sous vide, fervura e desidratação)

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in the relationship between food and health. Recently the intake of food containing naturally occurring antioxidants has gained increasing evidence. Fruits, specially blue or red ones, contain high amounts of antioxidants and are important sources of total phenolic compounds. A wide range of biological effects, including disease prevention, have already been attributed to antioxidant compounds. It is widely believed that a regular fruit and vegetable consumption, along with a healthy life style including balanced diet and physical exercise, can bring potential benefits to human health. However, fruits and vegetables are not always consumed fresh, they are often consumed after being submitted to some kind of processing, which can alter its nutritional properties. It seems therefore important to study the stability of these compounds in food processed prior to consumption. In this way, the aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of heat processing by different methods (sous vide, microwave, boiling and dehydration) in the antioxidant properties of red fruit (blackberry, bilberry, cherry, jaboticaba and strawberry). Total phenolic compound content and antioxidant activity of each fruit were evaluated, both fresh and processed by different heating methods. It was observed that jaboticaba presented the highest phenolic compound content and also the highest antioxidant activity among all red fruits studied, in all processes evaluated, except in dehydration, in which blackeberry and strawberry had higher results in the conditions studied. Besides, it could be observed that red fruits processed by microwave and dehydration presented higher phenolic compound content and higher antioxidant activity than those submitted to the other processes studied. Results obtained show that appears to be a clear influence of the kind of process used into red fruits antioxidant properties. However, more studies are needed do better understand the effects of heat processing in antioxidant activity of red fruits.