Agro-industrial By-Products from Amazonian Fruits: Use for Obtaining Bioproducts

Fruit processing contributes significantly to the agricultural exportation of the Amazonian; however, it generates large amounts of solid waste, despite its high content of bioactive compounds and nutritional properties, and they are discarded in the environment. Therefore, in order to add economic value and potential reuse of agro-industrial by-products from cocoa, cupuassu, pracaxi, and tucumã, we investigated the chemical characteristics of the seed by-product resulting from the industrial extraction of these oils. The investigation of the nutritional and chemical composition of by-product was submitted to green extraction, besides other qualitative and quantitative techniques for the characterization of the main bioactive compounds. The extracts obtained from these by-products had a significant total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity. HPLC analysis identified and quantified some flavonoids present in these by-products (gallic, caffeic and protocatechuic acid, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, epicatechin, catechin, and quercetin). The oil from these species is widely used in the treatment of skin scarring and inflammation and is also used by the cosmetic industry. These results show that these by-products have a great potential for use, since they still have bioactive substances in their composition, which could alternatively be used in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, or food industries

Green Extraction by Ultrasound, Microencapsulation by Spray Drying and Antioxidant Activity of the Tucuma Coproduct (Astrocaryum vulgare Mart.) Almonds

The industrial processing amazon fruits, like tucuma, generates a large amount of coproducts with large nutritional potential. Thus, this work obtained the oily extract of the tucuma almonds coproducts by green extraction using palm oil by the ultrasound method and then microencapsulated by atomization and verification of its antioxidant activity. Thermogravimetric techniques, infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, moisture content, water activity were applied to characterize the microparticles. Total carotenoids were determined by UV spectroscopy and antioxidant activity was measured by 2,2′-azino-di-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline sulfonic acid and co-oxidation in the system β-carotene/linoleic acid. The oily extract and microparticle had total carotenoid contents of 3.305 mg/100 g ± 0.01 and 2.559 mg/100 g ± 0.01, respectively. The antioxidant activity assessed through the 2,2′-azino-di-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline sulfonic acid value was 584.75 μM/trolox ± 0.01 (oily extract) and 537.12 μM/trolox ± 0.01 (microparticle) were determined. In the system β-carotene/linoleic acid showed oxidation of 49.9% ± 1.8 lipophilic extract and 43.3% ± 2.3 microparticle. The results showed that the oily extract of the tucuma almond coproduct can be used as a carotenoid-rich source and microencapsuled with possible application for functional foods production

Microencapsulation by Spray Drying and Antioxidant Activity of Phenolic Compounds from Tucuma Coproduct (Astrocaryum vulgare Mart.) Almonds

The industrial processing of fruits in the Amazon region, such as tucuma, generates a large amount of coproducts with great nutritional potential. In this work, phenolic compounds from tucuma coproduct almonds were extracted and microencapsulated by spray drying using maltodextrin as the encapsulating agent and verified its antioxidant activity. Phenolic compounds were determined by UV spectroscopy and identified by Ultraefficiency Liquid Chromatography. Antioxidant activity was measured by ABTS and DPPH assay. Thermogravimetric techniques, infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, moisture content and water activity were applied to characterize the microparticle. The crude extract and microparticle had total polyphenols of 135.1 mg/g ± 0.078 and 130.5 mg/g ± 0.024, respectively. Caffeic and gallic acids were identified. The crude extract and the microparticle showed good antioxidant activity by ABTS and DPPH assay, justified by the presence of the phenolic compounds found. The microparticle showed spherical and heterogeneous structures and good encapsulation efficiency from the spray drying process using maltodextrin. The results show that the extract of the tucuma almond coproduct can be used as a phenolic compound-rich source and microencapsulated with possible application for functional food production