Resumen

MONTERO, María Laura; ROJAS-GARBANZO, Carolina; USAGA, Jessie  y  PEREZ, Ana M.. Nutritional composition, content of bioactive compounds, and hydrophilic antioxidant capacity of selected Costa Rican fruits. Agron. Mesoam [online]. 2022, vol.33, n.2, 46175. ISSN 2215-3608.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/am.v33i2.46175.

Introduction. The consumption of fruits and vegetables inversely correlates with the incidence of degenerative diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, certain types of cancer, and cataracts associated with aging, due to the action of bioactive compounds including vitamin C, polyphenols, and carotenoids. Objective. To evaluate the nutritional profile of eleven fruits grown in Costa Rica. Materials and methods. This study was carried out at the National Center for Food Science and Technology of the Universidad de Costa Rica, in 2010. The content of total dietary fiber, total polyphenols, reported as gallic acid equivalents (GAE), total carotenoids expressed as µg β-carotene, and the hydrophilic capacity for oxygen radical absorbance (H-ORACFL) of eleven traditional or underutilized fruits were determined: banana (Musa AAA subgroup Cavendish cv. Grand Naine’), high altitude tropical blackberry (Rubus adenotrichos cv. wine with red thorns’), melon (Cucumis melo cv. Veracruz’), fig (Ficus carica cv. Brown-Turkey’), mango (Mangifera indica cv. Tommy Atkins’), papaya (Carica papaya hybrid Pococí’), pejibaye (Bactris gasipaes HBK), pineapple (Ananas comosus cv hybrid MD-2 Gold’), quince (Cydonia oblonga), jocote (Spondias purpurea cv. Tronador), and red tree tomato (Solanum betaceum). The fruits were collected in different locations in San Jose, Cartago, Alajuela, Guanacaste and Limon. Results. Six of the fruits studied presented dietary fiber contents between 4.2 and 6.6 g 100 g-1. The highland tropical blackberry presented the highest content of total phenolic compounds (538 ± 97 mg GAE 100 g-1) and the highest antioxidant activity (62.1 ± 4.0 μmol Trolox equivalents g-1) and the cooked pejibaye presented the highest content of carotenoids (72 ± 4 µg β-caroteno g-¹). Conclusion. The values of dietary fiber and bioactive compounds in the eleven fruits grown in Costa Rica represent valuable nutritional characteristics given the associated health benefits supported by clinical and epidemiological studies.

Palabras clave : proximal composition; carotenoids; dietary fiber; polyphenols; antioxidants.

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