Achachairú (Garcinia humilis): chemical characterization, antioxidant activity and mineral profile

Abstract

The present study characterized the nutritional value, including the total phenolic compounds, antioxidant potential, and mineral profile of peel, pulp, and seed of achachairú fruit. Fruits were collected and selected for appearance, ripeness stage, absence of physical damage, and then sanitized and pulped (when fruit peel, pulp, and seed were separated). These parts were lyophilized separately to guarantee the analytical results. The results indicated high moisture content in the fruit peel (79.63%), and pulp (80.68%). Potassium was the most abundant mineral found in fruit seed (224.56 mg/100 g), followed by peel (146.32 mg/100 g), and pulp (46.32 mg/100 g), while the least abundant element was copper (peel = 0.03 mg/100 g, pulp = 0.01 mg/100 g, and seed = 0.04 mg/100 g) with no significant difference between fractions. An influence of solvent used for determination of antioxidant activity of achachairú fruit was observed, in which ethanolic extract was regarded as the best solvent for this test in all evaluated methods. Evaluation of phenolic compounds showed variable results, where the highest contents (p < 0.05) were found in aqueous extract from the peel (149.71 mg EAG/100 g), and ethereal extract from the seed (212.28 mg EAG/100 g). The highest tannin content (p < 0.05) was found in seeds, both for condensates (63.83 mg de CAE/g) and hydrolysates (11.84 mg GA/g), and there was no significant difference between results from fruit peel and pulp.