Pulsed Electric Fields Effects on Health-Related Compounds and Antioxidant Capacity of Fruit and Vegetable Juices
摘要
A significant number of bioactive compounds found in fruits and vegetables such as vitamins, phenolic acids, flavonoids, and carotenoids exhibit health-promoting biological functions. It is known that thermal process is effective in pasteurizing fruits and vegetable juices and beverages, but the concentration and biological activity of most bioactive compounds are significantly reduced by the high temperature applied during treatment. Thus, different technologies allowing low-temperature processing, such as pulsed electric fields (PEF), have been successfully applied for plant-based products preservation with minimal detrimental effects on health-related attributes. Several studies have demonstrated that high-intensity PEF inactivate microorganisms and enzymes at safe levels, while diminishing the degradation of heat-labile components and, consequently, preserving the functional properties and fresh-like characteristics of treated products. In addition, low- or moderate-intensity PEF have shown to enhance extraction yields and biosynthesis of bioactive compounds from fruit and vegetable matrixes, improving their antioxidant profile and health-benefits. Hence, this nonthermal technology could help not only to obtain safe and stable food products but also to produce food commodities with high antioxidant properties and health-related benefits. This chapter illustrates the feasibility of PEF technology as a nonthermal process for preserving/enhancing health-related compounds and antioxidant capacity in fruit and vegetable beverages and the current challenges for its industrial application.