Journal
JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE
Volume 75, Issue 8, Pages S446-S453Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-3841.2010.01795.x
Keywords
carotenoids; food composition; fruits and vegetables; high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); vitamin A
Categories
Funding
- Generalitat Valenciana (Conselleria d'Educacio) [GVPRE/2008/309]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The carotenoid patterns of fully ripe fruits from 12 Bolivian accessions of the Andean peppers Capsicum baccatum (aji) and C. pubescens (rocoto) were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-photodiode array detector (PDA)-mass spectrometry (MS). We include 2 California Wonder cultivars as C. annuum controls. A total of 16 carotenoids were identified and differences among species were mostly found at the quantitative level. Among red-fruited genotypes, capsanthin was the main carotenoid in the 3 species (25% to 50% contribution to carotenoid fraction), although ajies contained the lowest contribution of this carotenoid. In addition, the contribution of capsanthin 5,6-epoxide to total carotenoids in this species was high (11% to 27%) in comparison to rocotos and red C. annuum. Antheraxanthin and violaxanthin were, in general, the next most relevant carotenoids in the red Andean peppers (6.1% to 10.6%). Violaxanthin was the major carotenoid in yellow-/orange-fruited genotypes of the 3 species (37% to 68% total carotenoids), although yellow rocotos were characterized by lower levels (< 45%). Cis-violaxanthin, antheraxanthin, and lutein were the next most relevant carotenoids in the yellow/orange Andean peppers (5% to 14%). As a whole, rocotos showed the highest contributions of provitamin A carotenoids to the carotenoid fraction. In terms of nutritional contribution, both ajies and rocotos provide a remarkable provitamin A activity, with several accessions showing a content in retinol equivalents higher than California Wonder controls. Furthermore, levels of lutein in yellow-/orange ajies and rocotos were clearly higher than California Wonder pepper (>= 1000 mu g.100/g). Finally, the Andean peppers, particularly red ajies, can be also considered as a noticeable source of capsanthin, the most powerful antioxidant compound among pepper carotenoids. Practical Application Capsicum peppers are known for their content in carotenoids, although there is no information about 2 species with Andean origin: ajies and rocotos. Due to their relevance for the Andean cuisine and increasing importance in ethnic restaurants in Europe, we studied their carotenoid pattern and vitamin A contribution.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available