An Apple and Acáchul Berry Snack Rich in Bioaccessible Antioxidants and Folic Acid: A Healthy Alternative for Prenatal Diets

Abstract

A fruit leather (apple and acáchul berry) oriented toward women of reproductive age was developed. The snack was supplemented with an ingredient composed of folic acid (FA) and whey proteins (WPI) to ensure the required vitamin intake to prevent fetal neural tube defects. In order to generate a low-calorie snack, alternative sweeteners were used (stevia and maltitol). The fruit leather composition was determined. Also, an in vitro digestion process was carried out to evaluate the bioaccessibility of compounds with antioxidant capacity (AC), total polyphenols (TPCs), total monomeric anthocyanins (ACY), and FA. The quantification of FA was conducted by a microbiological method and by HPLC. The leather contained carbohydrates (70%) and antioxidant compounds, mainly from fruits. Bioaccessibility was high for AC (50%) and TPCs (90%), and low for ACY (17%). Regarding FA, bioaccessibility was higher for WPI-FA (50%) than for FA alone (37%), suggesting that WPI effectively protected the vitamin from processing and digestion. Furthermore, the product was shown to be non-cytotoxic in a Caco-2 cell model. The developed snack is an interesting option due to its low energy intake, no added sugar, and high content of bioactive compounds. Also, the supplementation with WPI-FA improved the conservation and bioaccessibility of FA.

Keywords: bioaccessibility; bioactive compounds; folic acid; fruit leather; whey protein isolate.

Figure 1

Content of total monomeric anthocyanins (ACY) (A), total polyphenols (TPCs) (B), and antioxidant capacity (AC) measured by the ABTS (C) and FRAP (D) methods obtained for undigested (L-WPI-FA) and digested leathers (Dig-L-WPI-FA). Different letters indicate significant differences p ≤ 0.05.

Figure 2

Analysis of the FA present in the supplemented fruit leathers, L-WPI-FA and LC-FA, after in vitro digestion. FA concentration in terms of bioavailability against L. casei BL23 (A); FA concentration measured by HPLC (B). Different letters indicate significant differences p ≤ 0.05.

Figure 3

Cell viability of the Caco-2 line exposed to different concentrations of digested (Dig) L-WPI-FA or water (W). The control bar corresponds to 100% cell viability (cells treated only with DMEM 10% FBS). Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences between treatments (p ≤ 0.05).