PRODUCTION OF BLUEBERRY ANTHOCYANIN-RICH EXTRACT FOR ITS USE AS FUNCTIONAL FOOD

MARTIN ALZOGARAY, FLORENCIA; ALARCÓN, GABRIELA; MEDINA, MIRTA; JEREZ, SUSANA

Jornada; XXXIX Jornadas Científicas de la Asociación de Biología de Tucumán; 2022

Anthocyanins are flavonoids with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Blueberries are rich in these compounds and its beneficial effects on several diseases have been demonstrated so that its use as functional food is very promising. Anthocyanins have poor stability and are susceptible to harsh environmental conditions, such as oxygen, temperature, pH, and light. Thus, there is an increasing interest of food industry on developing of processing methods to anthocyanin preservation. Objectives: to develop an anthocyanin extraction method using regional blueberries and to analyze the protective effect of chia seed mucilage to avoid its degradation. Methods: fresh fruits were homogenized to prepare an extract. Anthocyanin extraction was performed by using acidified either methanol or ethanol as solvents. Then, chia mucilage was obtained through two methods: centrifugation and by sieving on a 40 mesh screen. Emulsions with different proportions of blueberry extract and chia mucilage were prepared (90-10% to 10-90% extract-mucilage). Anthocyanin concentration in the extract obtained with methanol (17,86 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside/mL) as solvent was similar to that obtained with ethanol (17,19 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside/mL). Regarding to the extract-mucilage emulsions, the proportion 90-10 showed higher anthocyanin concentration than the extract (142,6 vs 50,9 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside/mL). Conclusions: there were not differences between the solvents used during the anthocyanin extraction, and chia seed mucilage was able to preserve anthocyanin degradation.