TITLE:
Catechin and Epicatechin Contents in Wines Obtained from Brazilian Exotic Tropical Fruits
AUTHORS:
Suyare Araújo Ramalho, Nayjara Carvalho Gualberto, Maria Terezinha Santos Leite Neta, Rejane Andrade Batista, Suzane Macêdo Araújo, Jane de Jesus da Silveira Moreira, Narendra Narain
KEYWORDS:
Tropical Fruits; Cajá-Umbu; Mangaba; Cashew Apple; Siriguela; Wines; HPLC-DAD
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.5 No.5,
February
26,
2014
ABSTRACT:
Flavonoids constitute a diverse group of secondary metabolites which are
present in both fruits and wines. The contents of some of the most prominent
compounds such as catechin and epicatechin are little known in wines prepared
from tropical fruits. In this context, this study was aimed to determine
catechin and epicatechin contents in wines processed from 7 tropical fruits
(cajá-umbu, cashew apple, mangaba, pineapple, siriguela, sugar apple and umbu),
by HPLC-DAD system. Moreover the total phenolic compounds content was also
determined in these wines and compared to those of the commercial wines
obtained from grapes and cashew apple. The wines produced in this work
contained higher total phenolic compounds contents when compared to that of the
grape wines. The higher values of total phenolic compounds were found in wines
elaborated from cajá-umbu (123.4 mg·mL-1 GAE) and from
cashew (87.5 mg·mL-1 GAE).
However, higher contents of catechin and epicatechin were found in wines
obtained from mangaba (14.01 ± 0.37 mg·L-1, 22.66 ± 1.03 mg·L-1), siriguela
(9.97 ± 0.28, 4.38 ± 0.45) and
cashew apple (7.46 ± 0.18, 1.30 ± 0.17) fruits.
The present work indicates that the use of exotic tropical fruits is feasible
in developing wines which could serve as functional foods as these contain
appreciable quantities of catechin and epicatechin.