Prosopis alba mesocarp flour: a source of functional ingredients

PEREZ, J.; FLORENCIA MARÍA CORREA URIBURU; CATTANEO, F.; ZAMPINI, I. C.; ISLA, MARÍA INÉS; RODRIGUEZ, I. F.

Prosopis as a Heat Tolerant Nitrogen Fixing Desert Food Legume 1st Edition

Academic Press

Año: 2021; p. 1 - 5

Flours obtained from P. alba mature mesocarp showed a high level of polyphenolic compounds. The bound polyphenols (BPs) content (320-1700 mg GAE/100 g flour) was higher than free polyphenols (FPs) content (198?350 mg GAE/100 g flour). BPs were considered to have more health benefits since they may escape from upper gastrointestinal digestion conditions along with cell wall materials and absorbed into blood plasma during digestion by intestinal microflora. FPs extracts showed apigenin C-glycosides as principal component, including schaftoside, isoschaftoside, vicenin II, vitexin and isovitexin while coumaric and ferulic acids were the major component of BPs components. Apigenin C-glycosides were active as antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and enzyme inhibitors associated with the metabolic syndrome such as lipase, glucosidase and amylase. Phenylpropanoids acid has several positive health effects, mainly anti-carcinogenic, neuro-protective, cardiovascular effects, protection of hepatocyte and myocardial injury induced by diabetes, oxidative stress neutralization in cells with high-glucose content, lipoperoxidation reduction, increase glutathione levels and antioxidant enzyme activity in pancreas, inhibition of NFkB activation and modulation of redox immunity, inflammatory, and balance response in cells. The results suggest that the mesocarp flour of Prosopis alba, as well as extracts enriched in polyphenols could be used as a functional ingredient