Abstract
Background: The growing interest in new functional foods with special characteristics and health properties has led to the development of new beverages based on fruit juice mixtures. The proliferation of ready-to-drink beverages has driven the market to focus its interest on these products. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant capacity of mixtures formed by orange (Citrus sinensis L. var. Washington navel), grape (Vitis vinifera L. var. Lavallet Alfonso) and starfruit (Averrhoa carambola L. var. Golden Star) juices.
Methods: Samples were prepared with different proportions of each juice according to simplex centroid mixture design (SCMD). The antioxidant capacity of each sample was determined by 2,2 - diphenyl -1 - picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging ability in vitro and expressed as the amount of sample needed to scavenge 50% of the DPPH (IC50).
Results: The antioxidant capacity was higher in treatments of mixtures of these fruits than those who used pure juices, indicating binary mixtures of orange and starfruit juices and also ternary mixtures including grape juice in different proportion presents higher antioxidant capacity than pure juices.
Conclusion: These results provide important information for the juice industry, an industry that could design mixtures of fruit juices instead of pure juice, with the intention to improve their functional properties.
Keywords: Vitamin C, flavonoids, statistical mixture design, DPPH, antioxidant capacity.
Graphical Abstract
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