Phenolic compounds in peel, seed and cold pressed pink pepper (Schinus terebinthifolia R.) oil and bioaccessibility of peel using a digestion model with intestinal barrier simulation

Pink pepper-PP (Schinus terebinthifolius R.) has been used as a flavoring agent, an antioxidant, and a natural preservative. Studies have focused on obtaining essential oils and antioxidants from the whole fruit. Few studies have evaluated the quantification of phenolics and bioaccessibility of the fruit parts. The quantification of bioactive compounds from PP oil obtained by cold pressing are also scarce. In this work, 21 phenolics (HPLC-DAD) and antioxidant capacity (AOX) were quantified in peel, seed and cold-pressed oil of PP, in two harvests. The bioactive and antioxidant potential of the fractions studied in PP were peel > oil > seed. The peel possessed the richest fraction; in particular, gallic acid (2819-3129 mg/kg), procyanidin B2 (720-760 mg/kg), catechin (528-594 mg/kg), kampferol-3-glucoside (166-184 mg/kg) peonidin-3-O-glucoside (55.3-58.5 mg/kg) and pelargonidin 3-O-glucoside (17.8-20.2 mg/kg), and high AOX. Oil was the second richest fraction with highlight gallic acid (735 mg/kg), catechin (103-105 mg/kg), procyanidin A2 (19 mg/kg) and chlorogenic acid (5 mg/kg). PP peels were submitted to in vitro digestion model with intestinal barrier simulation, where hesperidin (23352%), naringenin (273%) and catechin (84%) were the most bioaccessible phenolics. The present study shows that the PP peel has the greatest bioactive potential. Furthermore, obtaining the oil by cold pressing fruit is an alternative to be explored.

Automated summary

This study quantified phenolics and antioxidant capacity in different parts of pink pepper fruit and found that the peel had the highest content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant potential. The in vitro digestion model demonstrated that hesperidin, naringenin, and catechin had the highest bioaccessibility.