Abstract

Camu-camu fruits have high functional importance and great potential as food. Knowing and determining the nutrients present in its fruitsis crucial, in order to understand the relationship between consumption and human health. For this reason, the objective of this work was to evaluate qualitative attributes, such as organic acids content, antioxidant capacity and functional potential of different parts of camu-camu fruit. The fruit used in the present study were collected in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, and analyzed at the University of Florida, Gainesville, U.S.A. Seed, peel, pulp, pulp+peel, and whole fruit were evaluated regarding pH, soluble solids, titratable acidity, and levels of ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds, anthocyanins, and flavonoids. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) and Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) methods. Based on the results, camu-camu fruit proved to be a good source of acids, and the pulp is the part that is most concentrated in organic acids. Also, the pulp presents the highest amount of phenolic compounds and highest antioxidant activity. The peel had relatively higher amount of pigments, anthocyanins and flavonoids, and higher concentration of ascorbic acid, proving that it can also be used as a source of bioactive compounds.

Key words: Functional food, antioxidant activity, Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP), Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), pigments, Caçari.