The genus Garcinia has many varieties of fruit trees, which are found in rural and urban backyards, tropical forests and domestic orchards of several tropical countries. Fruits have a great diversity of metabolites, among which phenolic compounds stand out for their potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other effects, and which have a preventive action on diseases of modernity. This review aimed to associate studies on the metabolic activities of Garcinia fruits and their numerous effects on health risk factors, such as obesity, hyperglycemia, inflammatory processes and dyslipidemias. Scientific articles published in English, Portuguese and Spanish were selected, which carried out studies involving the administration of Garcinia fruits in vitro and in vivo, mainly in the last five years. Sixty relevant articles were included in the study. Studies have shown that the Garcinia fruit species can be used in body weight control and prevention of cardiovascular disorders, cancer and diabetes mellitus, among other diseases associated with oxidative stress.

The objective of this work was to standardize and validate an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ic-Elisa), as a low-cost tool, to monitor the presence of aflatoxin in common and blanched peanuts (Arachis hypogaea) in the production chain. The presence of aflatoxin B1, moisture content, and water activity were analyzed in 60 samples of the peanut cultivar Runner IAC 886, from the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 harvests of the region of Alta Paulista, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The validation showed an adequate linearity (R2 = 0.999), and limits of detection and quantification of 1.13 and 3.59 μg kg-1, respectively. Recovery rates of 104, 102, and 107% at the concentrations of 4, 10, and 20 μg kg-1 aflatoxin B1, respectively, were also recorded. The ic-Elisa showed a good reproducibility with a high-intraday precision, with 1.87% coefficient of variation (CV), and interday precision with 6.75% CV. The moisture content ranged from 4.0 to 7.2% (mean of 5.8%), and the water activity from 0.4848 to 0.6997 (mean of 0.5990) for the tested samples. Aflatoxin B1 was present in concentrations ranging from 1.13 to 29.2 μg kg-1, with only two samples (3.3%) exceeding the maximum allowed limit of 20 μg kg-1. The ic-ELISA developed here is an accessible tool for the rapid monitoring of aflatoxin contamination in the peanut production chain.

A procura por chocolates amargos tem aumentado visivelmente entre os consumidores, tendo em vista seu alto conteúdo de compostos fenólicos com atividade antioxidante, e sua associação positiva na prevenção de doenças cardiovasculares, hipertensão arterial e resistência à insulina. O objetivo deste estudo foi elaborar bombons de chocolate amargo adicionados de goji berry desidratado e avaliar suas características físico-químicas, sensoriais e perfil de textura durante o período de armazenamento. Foram elaboradas uma amostra controle (apenas chocolate) e duas amostras com 15% e 30% de goji berry, respectivamente, sendo utilizado chocolate amargo de origem Brasil (66,8% cacau). Foram quantificados atividade de água, pH, sólidos solúveis, acidez titulável e umidade, e análises de textura instrumental e avaliação sensorial nos tempos 1, 30 e 60 dias de armazenamento. Utilizou-se ANOVA e teste-t, ajuste de Tukey, (p ≤ 0,05) para análise dos resultados. Evidenciou-se que a amostra com 30% de goji berry apresentou maiores diferenças nos parâmetros físico-químicos, caracterizados por menor pH e maiores valores de acidez titulável e umidade, comparativamente as demais amostras. Durante o armazenamento, houve aumento significativo nos teores de umidade e atividade de água nas amostras com goji berry, especialmente após 60 dias de armazenamento. A análise de textura revelou aumento significativo da força de ruptura na amostra controle, e redução desta, nas amostras adicionadas da fruta, durante o armazenamento, especialmente após o período de 60 dias, sugerindo que as frutas interferiram na dureza dos bombons, o que corroborou com os resultados da analise sensorial de textura das amostras.