Influence of freezing on the bioaccessibility of beetroot (Beta vulgaris) bioactive compounds during in vitro gastric digestion.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The effect of freezing (in liquid nitrogen at -196 °C , at -80 °C and at -20 °C) on the food matrix structure and the consequent effect on the bioaccessibility of total polyphenol content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA) of beetroot was investigated by an in vitro digestion method. The in vitro digestion involved incubation in simulated saliva followed by incubation in simulated gastric juice. Bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds was evaluated by measuring the TPC and the AA during in vitro digestion in both the beetroot matrix and the gastric juice. RESULTS: Release of TPC and AA of beetroot was higher in frozen samples (55 ± 5% for TPC and 68 ± 5% for AA) than in the fresh beetroot sample (∼46% for TPC and ∼53% for AA). The mass transfer kinetics were described by using a Weibull model with mean relative errors lower than 8.5% contributing to a better understanding of the influence of freezing on the bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds. CONCLUSIONS: From the treatments tested in this study, freezing with liquid nitrogen resulted in the greatest increase in bioaccessibility of the antioxidant and phenolic compounds of beetroots. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.