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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Food Chemistry
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1417076

The Nutritional Profile comparison between the white and Purple Açaí in the Mesoregions of Pará, Brazil

Provisionally accepted
ROSEMARY M. COUTINHO ROSEMARY M. COUTINHO 1,2*JULIANA D. ROCHA JULIANA D. ROCHA 2Nathália Neves Nathália Neves 2FREDERICO A. BARROS FREDERICO A. BARROS 2Isidro Hermosín-Gutiérrez Isidro Hermosín-Gutiérrez 3PAULO C. STRINGHETA PAULO C. STRINGHETA 2
  • 1 Instituto Federal de Educação Ciência e Tecnologia do Pará - Campus Belém, Belém, Pará, Brazil
  • 2 Department of Food Technology, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
  • 3 University of Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The study targeted to compare the nutritional profile of two varieties of açaí, the white and purple, found in different mesoregions of Pará, Brazil. The research focused on analyzing levels of total phenolics, total anthocyanins, antioxidant capacity, and mineral composition in these two varieties. The study sought to identify significant differences between the two varieties in terms of nutritional composition and antioxidant potential, providing valuable information into the specific nutritional and functional properties of each type of açaí studied. Higher levels of total phenolics, total anthocyanins, and antioxidant capacity were observed in purple açaí fruits, with values of 806.17±17.48 mgGAE/100g, 81.73±1.77 mg/100g, and 19.25±0.35 μmol of Trolox equivalent (TE)/g, respectively, compared to 401.92±52.70 mgGAE/100g, 37.70±5.34 mg/100g, and 6.17±1.07 μmol TE/g in white açaí. HPLC-MS analysis identified and quantified monomeric anthocyanins in white açaí, using two distinct analytical methods, revealing average values of 0.29 and 1.05 µg/100g for cyanidin-3-glucoside and between 0.74 and 3.13 µg/100g for cyanidin-3-rutinoside, respectively, which were higher than those found in yellow tropical fruits. The quality of both purple and white açaí varied significantly among mesoregions, with fruits from floodplain soils demonstrating superior quality compared to those from sandy and solid soils in southeastern Pará. Mineral composition and microbiological characteristics were similar between white and purple açaí. These findings underscore the significant influence of mesoregion and soil type on açaí quality, emphasizing the superiority of fruits grown in floodplain soils.

    Keywords: White açaí fruits, Euterpe oleracea mart, Total phenolics, Total anthocyanins, antioxidant capacity, Mineral composition

    Received: 14 Apr 2024; Accepted: 26 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 COUTINHO, ROCHA, Neves, BARROS, Hermosín-Gutiérrez and STRINGHETA. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: ROSEMARY M. COUTINHO, Instituto Federal de Educação Ciência e Tecnologia do Pará - Campus Belém, Belém, Pará, Brazil

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.