Systemic characterization of pupunha (Bactris gasipaes) flour with views of polyphenol content on cytotoxicity and protein in vitro digestion

• Published in: Food chemistry 2023-03, Vol.405, p.134888, Article 134888
• Main Authors: Santos, Y.J.S., Facchinatto, W.M., Rochetti, A.L., Carvalho, R.A., Le Feunteun, S., Fukumasu, H., Morzel, M., Colnago, L.A., Vanin, F.M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amazonian fruit; Food and Nutrition; In vitro digestion; Inhibition; Life Sciences; NMR; Phenolic compounds; XRD
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.134888

•Pupunha flours has high contents of phenolic compounds and antioxidant potentials.•Significant differences between flours were due to ripening stage and/or locations.•Technological characteristics were similar for the six flour samples produced, despite others differences.•Pupunha flours also had cytotoxic potential in L929 cells and inhibited protein digestion in vitro. Although the Amazonian fruit pupunha (Bactris gasipaes) is rich in phenolic compounds, it is rarely consumed. Application could be expanded by transforming it into products with a longer shelf life. Therefore, the objective of this study was to produce pupunha flour (PF) from fruits harvested at different locations, characterize the flours using various physicochemical analyses and spectroscopic techniques, and evaluate its cytotoxic effects and in vitro protein digestion. PF were classified using principal component analysis and some dependencies on origin were detected. PF impaired protein digestion in vitro, probably due to the high content of phenolic compounds. The cytotoxicity results in L929 cells showed that the flours had cytotoxic potential. Therefore, it could be concluded that PF presented interesting physicochemical properties for its application in food development. However, the negative and undesirable effects on protein in vitro digestion and L929 cell viability indicated a potential risk for its use.