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Profiling ellagic acid content: The importance of form and ascorbic acid levels

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Williams, D. J., Edwards, D., Pun, S., Chaliha, M. and Sultanbawa, Y. (2014) Profiling ellagic acid content: The importance of form and ascorbic acid levels. Food Research International, 66 . p. 100. ISSN 09639969

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Article Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2014.09.003

Abstract

As the importance of plant-based antioxidants to human health becomes clearer there is a rapidly expanding search for rich sources of these compounds. Much attention is currently focussed on the antioxidant potential of ellagic acid (EA). Making assessment difficult is that EA occurs in different forms: free EA, EA glycosides and polymeric ellagitannins. The overall structure of these forms has a pronounced effect on their antioxidant efficiency and is responsible for widely differing reactivity, solubility and hence bioavailability properties. Often associated with EA is vitamin C which also contributes to the plant foods total antioxidant activity. Previous studies have suggested that ascorbic acid may have protective effects on the polyphenol content of plants. With a view to gaining evidence that the bioactive forms of vitamin C influence EA content, several fruits with a range of EA and vitamin C contents were examined. To facilitate a more detailed assessment of the selected fruits antioxidant potential the relative proportions of EA forms were also determined. In strawberries and boysenberries EA content was predominantly in the polymeric form (21% and 12% free EA plus EA glycoside vs total EA levels for strawberry and boysenberry respectively), while in Kakadu plum it was mainly in the free form (70% of total EA). An increasing percentage of dehydroascorbic acid (9 to 14% of total vitamin C) indicating enhanced transformation of ascorbic acid to its oxidative degradation product together with stable free EA levels (≈ 950 mg/100 g DW) over the 4 month frozen storage period for the Kakadu plum samples are consistent with a possible protective effect of EA by ascorbic acid.

Item Type:Article
Business groups:Crop and Food Science
Subjects:Plant culture > Food crops
Plant culture > Fruit and fruit culture
Live Archive:25 Sep 2014 01:06
Last Modified:03 Sep 2021 16:50

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