Variation in the Carotenoid Composition of the Lycopene-Rich Brazilian Fruit Eugenia uniflora L.

Abstract

The indigenous pitanga (Eugenia uniflora L.) is now marketed and commercially processed in Brazil. In the present work, the carotenoids of the pitanga fruit from two states and at two stages of ripening, as well as of processed pitanga products (frozen pulp and juice, the brands being designated as A, B and C) commercialized in Campinas, São Paulo, were determined by HPLC. As compared to ripe pitanga from Medianeira, Paraná, those from Campinas had significantly higher (all-E)-lycopene (14.0 vs. 71.1 microg/g), (13Z)-lycopene (1.1 vs. 5.0 microg/g) and (all-E)-gamma-carotene (1.6 vs. 3.8 microg/g) levels. Significant increases in most of the carotenoids occurred from the partially ripe to the ripe fruits, with (all-E)-lycopene doubling its concentration in fruits from both states. Pitanga was found to be one of the richest fruit sources of carotenoids, particularly lycopene, but the processed products had much lower lycopene content. The mean (all-E)-lycopene concentration was 16.6 microg/g for frozen pulp brand A, 23.0 microg/g for bottled juice brand B and 25.6 microg/g for bottled juice brand C. Optimization of processing is therefore needed to guarantee better retention of this important carotenoid.

Physicochemical characterization and antioxidant capacity of pitanga fruits (Eugenia uniflora L.)

“…The lycopene contents of the red and orange samples analyzed in this work were much higher than those of pitanga samples from São Paulo (71 µg.g -1 ) and Paraná (14 µg.g -1 ) (PORCU; RODRIGUEZ-AMAYA, 2008). Moreover, the pitanga samples from the state of Rio Grande do Sul had higher lycopene content than that of the fruits considered as important sources of lycopene such as watermelon (36 µg.g -1 ) (NIIZU; RODRIGUEZ-AMAYA, 2003), guava (53 µg.g -1 ) (PADULA; RODRIGUEZ-AMAYA, 1986), and papaya (cv.…”

“…However, the carotenoid composition of pitanga fruits is variable. Lycopene is the major carotenoid in pitanga fruits cultivated in the following states: São Paulo, Pernambuco, and Paraná (Brazil), but other carotenoids have been found in different proportions depending on the geographic origin of the fruits (CAVALCANTE; RODRIGUEZ-AMAYA, 1992; AZEVEDO-MELEIRO; RODRIGUEZ-AMAYA, 2004;PORCU;RODRIGUEZ-AMAYA, 2008). Climate was found to influence the carotenoid composition of this fruit.…”

Secondary Metabolites

“…MgO:Hyflosupercel on CC has been also widely used to analysis the main carotenoids of tropical fruits such as Pouteria campechiana (Agostini-Costa et al, 2010) and to evaluate the variation in the carotenoid composition of Malpighia glabra pulp (Agostini-Costa et al, 2003) and Eugenia uniflora fruit (Porcu & Rodriguez-Amaya, 2008). Hydrocarbon carotenes, such as -carotene, lycopene, -carotene, ζ-carotene and xanthophylls such as -cryptoxanthin, violaxanthin and neoxanthin (Figure 10), were extracted from these tropical fruits, separated by MgO: Hyflosupercel on CC developed with ethyl ether and acetone gradient in petroleum ether, identified by chemical tests and quantified by visible spectroscopy.…”

Food structure design to modulate bioaccessibility of carotenoids from brazilian native fruits after screening of eleven non-conventional tropical fruits

“…While Capeba provide approx. 33 µg/g for trans-βC and 3 µg/g for β-CX in the bioaccessible fraction, oranges provided 0.02 µg/g for trans-βC and 0.04 µg/g, mandarins 0.1 µg/g for trans-βC and 1.8 µg/g [23], mango 8.9 µg/g for trans-βC and papaya 2.4 for trans-βC [24]. A beverage (50:50 v/v of water and pulp) made with caja (Spondias mombim), also a brazilian native fruit from the same genus of seriguela (Spondias purpurea), formed mixed micelles during in vitro digestion containing: 0.06 µg/g of trans-βC, 0.06 µg/g of α-C, 0.15 µg/g of β-CX, 0.08 µg/g of Lut and 0.03 ZeaX, excluding the esterified xanthophylls [25].…”

“…lycopene) and xanthophylls (e.g. rubixanthin) in pitanga [10] and provided evidence that araçá-boi could be used as nutraceutical ingredient in the production of functional foods due to its carotenoid pattern [11]. The genus Eugenia has been presenting many fruits with high antioxidant activity against biological radicals and anti-inflammatory activity [1].…”