Atividade antioxidante de pimentas do gênero Capsicum

Abstract

Naturalmente os alimentos estão em constantes modificações, representadas por alterações físicas, enzimáticas, microbiológicas e químicas, como as reações de oxidação de lipídios e outros nutrientes susceptíveis à ação do oxigênio e radicais livres, provocando por sua vez o aparecimento de sabores e odores desagradáveis, modificações do valor nutricional e a diminuição da vida de prateleira dos alimentos.Para retardar tais processos, a indústria faz uso de aditivos químicos constantemente questionados pelos consumidores quanto aos seus possíveis efeitos negativos à saúde. Neste contexto, há grande interesse em encontrar nas plantas condimentares, princípios ativos que possuam ação antioxidante e que possam contribuir para a conservação de alimentos, sendo estes produzidos sem danos ao meio ambiente e à saúde humana.Plantas condimentares, tais como as pimentas e pimentões do gênero Capsicum, que sempre foram usadas pelos índios e civilizações antigas para tornar os alimentos mais agradáveis ao paladar, além de serem utilizadas como conservantes em alimentos, são fontes de antioxidantes naturais como a vitamina E, vitamina C e carotenoides (REIFSCHNEIDER, 2000). Estas pimentas também são ricas em capsaicinoides, compostos fenólicos responsáveis pelo sabor pungente ou picante (CARVALHO; BIACHETTI, 2004).O Brasil é o segundo maior produtor de pimenta no mundo (RISTORI et al., 2002) e centro da diversidade do gênero Capsicum (REIFSCHNEIDER, 2000). Essa hortaliça está difundida em todas as regiões do Brasil, sendo que as principais áreas de cultivo são as regiões Sudeste e Centro-Oeste. São comercializadas para o consumo in natura, conservas caseiras e exportação do produto industrializado (WAGNER, 2003).O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar as atividades antioxidante do extrato bruto e frações hexânica, clorofórmica e AbstractThe antioxidant activity was evaluated by the β-Carotene/Linoleic Acid System, DPPH • (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical assay, to the crude extract (EB) and fractions hexanic (FH), chloroformic (FC), and ethyl acetate (FA) of malagueta peppers (C. frutescens), cambuci (C. baccatum var. pendulum), cumari (C. baccatum var praetermissum), and pepper magali (C. annuum var. annuum). The concentration of total phenolics and capsacinoids present in the peppers was also determined. The results showed that the FC and the FA peppers showed higher concentrations of total phenolics and capsacinoids, and that the cumari pepper was the species with higher concentrations of these compounds. The best antioxidant activity according to the β-Carotene/Linoléico Acid System were obtained for the EB and the FA cambuci pepper, followed by the EB malagueta pepper. According to the DPPH method, the FC and FA showed lower values of EC 50 , and the cumari and cambuci peppers were the most effective. The results show that cumari, cambuci, and malagueta peppers can be used as natural antioxidant agents in food. Keywords: Capsicum; peppers; antioxidant activities. ResumoFoi avaliada a atividade antioxidante p...

Dehydration of "dedo de moça" pepper: kinetics and phytochemical concentration

“…In this study, the initial total phenolic content was 240 ± 27 mg galic acid equivalents/100 g sample, which was very close to the value obtained by Oboh and Rocha (2007) (218 mg/100 g of sample) and higher than the value found by Hassimotto, Genovese and Lajolo (2005) (131 mg/100 g sample) in methanolic extract of C. annuum. Costa et al (2010) also found lower values of total phenolic content in four different types of peppers (chillies, Magali red, cambuci, and cumari peppers), when analyzing pepper extract using different solvents (hexane, chloroform, and ethyl acetate). Deepa et al (2007) found total phenolic content between 323 and 852 mg/100 g sample for 10 different species of C. annuum L., and Howard et al (2000) found values ranging from 284.6 to 570.7 mg/100 g in ripe fruits of four species of C. annuum.…”

“…Other studies focused on product quality aimed to investigate the effect of the temperature on the composition of pepper (FAUSTINO; BARROCA; GUINÉ, 2007), especially with respect to vitamin C, phenolic compounds, carotenoids (DI SCALA;CRAPISTE, 2008;COSTA et al, 2010;MONTES et al, 2010), color, and antioxidant properties (ARSLAN; ÖZCAN, 2011).…”

“…Phenolic compounds comprise a wide variety of chemical compounds including capsacinoids, which can act as free radical scavengers minimizing lipid oxidation and in some cases as chelating metal agents (COSTA et al, 2010). The functionality of these compounds in food products can be changed by the processing conditions.…”

<b>Bioactive compounds from brewer’s spent grain: phenolic compounds, fatty acids and <i>in vitro</i> antioxidant capacity

“…Further, DPPH has the advantage of being unaffected by certain side reactions of polyphenols, such as metal ion chelation and enzyme inhibition (Holtekjolen, Kinitz, & Knutsen, 2006). ABTS assay is based on a stable ABTS radical cation which has a blue-green chromophore absorption, produced by ABTS oxidation with potassium persulfate and is reduced in hydrogendonating antioxidants (Costa, Moura, Marangoni, Mendes, & Teixeira, 2010). Although this method has a similar mechanism to the DPPH assay, the ABTS assay in current investigation presented a higher value when compared to that of the DPPH test (Table 3).…”

Effect of drying temperature on the nutritional and antioxidant qualities of cumari peppers from Pará (Capsicum chinense Jacqui)

“…They present high concentrations of vitamins A, C and E (Kuda et al, 2004) and recent studies indicate significant antioxidant activity and phenolic content in some species of the genus Capsicum (Costa et al 2010;Materska and Perucka, 2005).…”