Anthocyanins are the most important class of water-soluble pigments responsible for
red to blue colors in various plants. Anthocyanins naturally occur in a broad range of plants
and studies have shown associations between fruit consumption and reduction of certain
diseases thought to be related to the presence of these and other polyphenolics. However,
anthocyanin absorption is fairly poor which hinders their potential to be utilized in the
human body.
Absorption of anthocyanins extracted from açaí puree and port wine was assessed.
Various combinations of terpenes and phospholipids were added to anthocyanins to
modulate and increase their transport within a model system. Açaí and port wine
anthocyanins were poorly transported in the absence of phospholipids and terpenes. The addition of terpenes and phospholipids significantly increased the transport of
anthocyanins. Additionally, the presence of phospholipids and terpenes did not
influence the way anthocyanins degraded over a 40 day period of time at three different
temperatures. Transport of anthocyanins was not dependent on dosage since absorption
results were similar at both concentrations of anthocyanins tested. Two methods to mix
anthocyanins, phospholipids, and terpenes were also assessed (Sonication and French
Press). Comparisons illustrated that both technologies created matrices that maintained
the properties of phospholipids and terpenes as transport enhancers.
Finally, a study to determine the efficacy of phospholipids and terpenes on a
different type of polyphenolic compound was assessed. Transport of gallic acid was
enhanced by the use of these agents that cemented the idea that phospholipids and
terpenes can enhance the transport of various types of polyphenolics.
The aiding effect of phospholipids and terpenes was well established and could
play an important role in future investigation in this field. Further research needs to be
conducted to reveal more information about the nature of these vesicles or associations
that phospholipids and terpenes may have with anthocyanins. In vivo studies need to be
considered to confirm these effects in rat models and, ideally, in humans. Nevertheless,
these findings open a new line of investigation that could harvest promising results for
the future of ingredient development for food products.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/148448 |
| Date | 14 March 2013 |
| Creators | Cardona Ponce, Jorge 1983- |
| Contributors | Talcott, Stephen T |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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