Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Monguba (Pachira aquatica) Seeds

• Published in: Food research international 2019-07, Vol.121, p.880-887
• Main Authors: Rodrigues, Alexsandra Pereira, Pereira, Gustavo Araujo, Tomé, Pedro Henrique Ferreira, Arruda, Henrique Silvano, Eberlin, Marcos Nogueira, Pastore, Glaucia Maria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bioactive Compounds; Carbohydrates; Fatty Acids; Mineral Composition; Phenolic Compounds; Tocopherols
• ISSN: 0963-9969; 1873-7145
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2019.01.014

Monguba fruit has a seed with a chestnut-like flavor that can be consumed boiled, fried, and roasted. These nutritious seeds also have been used in popular medicine to treat several diseases. Nevertheless, the nutritional and functional potential of monguba seed is still underexploited. In this sense, we investigated the nutritional and functional components of monguba seeds. These seeds showed high total content of sugars, mainly sucrose, whereas the content of the raffinose family oligosaccharides was low. The mineral assay showed high amount of minerals, namely potassium, calcium, magnesium and zinc, which indicate that monguba seeds can be a new source of these minerals. UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis showed caffeic, ferulic and 4-hydroxybenzoic acids as the main phenolic compounds, mainly in the esterified form, in these seeds. Monguba seed showed high lipid content, in which the main compounds were palmitic acid and γ-tocopherol. The soluble and insoluble phenolic fractions from monguba seeds showed high antioxidant activity measured by the oxygen radical absorption capacity (ORAC) and the trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assays. Therefore, the monguba seeds have great potential to be explored by food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries due to their chemical composition. [Display omitted] •Monguba seeds showed low amount of raffinose family oligosaccharides.•Palmitic acid and γ-tocopherol were found as main compounds in monguba seed oil.•Monguba seeds could be a new source of potassium.•Caffeic, ferulic and 4- hydroxybenzoic acids were the main phenolics.•The phenolic compounds were found mainly in the esterified form.