Occurrence of Bioactive Health Promoting Compounds in Commercial Products of Mango, Pineapple and Wood Apple in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Bioactive health promoting compounds are present in foods that provide health benefits beyond their nutritional value. Processing of fruits into products can have significant consequences on the nutritional composition. This research was conducted to determine the compositional variation of vitamin C, total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant activity (DPPH Radical Scavenging assay), β-carotene, total soluble solids (0Bx value) and acidity in nectar, cordial and jam processed using ripe mango, pineapple and wood apple. Vitamin C content in unfortified cordials was 6.8±0.6 and 8.5±1.2 mg/100g FW for pineapple and wood apple respectively. However, vitamin C content in fortified cordials was comparatively higher in mango (56.7-67.6 mg/100g FW), pineapple (44.5-54.6 mg/100g FW) and wood apple (49.9 mg/100g FW) respectively. TPC in nectars ranged from 1.0-4.0 mg tannic acid equivalent (TAE)/100g FW (mango), 2.4-3.8 mg (TAE)/100g FW (pineapple) and 0.7-2.3 mgTAE/100g FW (wood apple) respectively whereas it was 3.3- 4.9 mgTAE/100g FW (mango), 2.4-5.3 mgTAE/100g FW (pineapple) and 1.3-4.7 mgTAE/100g FW (wood apple) in cordials. TPC in jam was higher than nectar and cordial products due to incorporation of 40% fruit pulp in jams. The antioxidant activity in nectar was within the range of 0.23-0.40 (mango), 0.29-0.38 (pineapple) and 0.21-0.38 (wood apple) μmolTrolox g-1 FW. The antioxidant activity was not correlated with vitamin C or TPC while total soluble solids vs dry weight was highly correlated (R2 = 0.98). A substantial amount of β-carotene was measured in mango and pineapple products while β-carotene was not detected in wood apple products. The ways of minimizing the potential influential factors along the supply chain is yet to be investigated in broader perspective. It is recommended to promote cultivation of new fruit varieties rich in nutrients, designing new industrial fruit processing technologies including non-thermal processing techniques to minimize the loss of bioactive phytochemicals.