Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Eugenia pyriformis Cambess (uvaia)

MARIA R. RAMIREZ, CARLOS E. SCHNORR, LUCAS B. FEISTAUER, AMÉLIA T. HENRIQUES, JOSÉ C. FONSECA MOREIRA, JOSE ANGELO S. ZUANAZZI

Aguas de lindoia

Congreso; 33a Reuniao anual da sociedade brasileira de quimica; 2010

Fruit metabolites and their possible effects on human health are attracting increasing interest. Consumers, who are also increasingly aware of diet-related health problems, are demanding complementary medicine that are expected to be safe and health promoting.Moreover, such fruits may contain compounds with functional properties against human diseases like polyphenolic compounds, which may act as natural antioxidants in our diet. They have been known to inhibit lipid peroxidation, to scavenge free radicals, to chelate iron and copper ions, and to alter cell signaling pathways.Knowing the increasing search for complementary medicine with antioxidant action against freeradicals, the objective of this study was to evaluate the potencial antioxidant of the hexane and the ethanolic fractions, as well as of the total extract of uvaia (Eugenia pyriformis Cambess), and to verify the phenolic compounds concentration of these fruit.Uvaia extracts were evaluated for radical trapping antioxidant potential (TRAP) total antioxidantreactivity (TAR) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBA-RS). Results are expressed asnmol TBARS or Trolox/mg protein. Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the Duncan multiple range test when the F-value was significant (P <0.05).Resultados e DiscussãoMaximum values for total phenolics was 480 mgGAE/g. In this study, all flavonoids, andnonflavonoid phenolic compounds are estimated in this parameter. Compared to the reference antioxidant, extracts possess similar or slightly lower radical scavenging activity in all test (figures 1-3). Phytochemical studies have reported the occurrence of carotenoids in uvaia extract1. These data suggest that the antioxidant effect of the extracts may be due to the presence of carotenoids (hexane fraction) and polyphenolic compounds (ethanolic fraction)This might be useful information from the point of view of identifying foods that are rich in thesefunctional metabolites for the development of pharmafood products and additives with appropriate antioxidant properties.