Apple and acáchul berry snack rich in bioaccesible antioxidants and folic acid. A healthy alternative for prenatal diet

CORFIELD R.; ALLIEVI, M. C.; RIVERO, R.; LOPEZ, T.; PEREZ, O.; SALVATORI D.; SCHEBOR C .

Foods

MDPI

Lugar: Basilea; Año: 2024

2304-8158

A fruit leather (apple and acáchul berry) oriented to women of reproductive age was developed. The snack was supplemented with an ingredient composed of folic acid (FA) and whey proteins (WPI), to ensure the required vitamin intake to prevent fetal neural tube defects. In order to generate a low-calorie snack, alternative sweeteners were used (stevia and maltitol). The fruit leather composition was determined. Also, an in vitro digestion process was carried out to evaluate the bioaccessibility of compounds with antioxidant capacity (AC), total polyphenols (TPC), total monomeric anthocyanins (ACY), and FA. The quantification of FA was conducted by a microbio-logical method and by HPLC. The leather contained carbohydrates (70%), and antioxidant com-pounds, mainly from fruits. Bioaccessibility was high for AC (50%) and TPC (90%), and low for ACY (17%). Regarding FA, bioaccessibility was higher for WPI-FA (50%) than for FA alone (37%), suggesting that WPI effectively protected the vitamin from processing and digestion. Furthermore, the product was shown to be non-cytotoxic in a Caco-2 cell model. The developed snack is an in-teresting option due to its low energy intake, no added sugar, and high content of bioactive com-pounds. Also, the supplementation with WPI-FA improved the conservation and bioaccessibility of FA.