Evaluation of Chemical Constituents and Antioxidant Activity of Coconut Water (Cocus nucifera L.) and Caffeic Acid in Cell Culture

Coconut water contains several uncharacterized substances and is widely used in the human consumption. In this paper we detected and quantified ascorbic acid and caffeic acid and total phenolics in several varieties of coconut using HPLS/MS/MS (25.8 +/- 0.6 mu g/mL and 1.078 +/- 0.013 mu g/mL and 99.7 mu g/mL, respectively, in the green dwarf coconut water, or 10 mg and 539 mu g and 39.8 mg for units of coconut consumed, 500 +/- 50 mL). The antioxidant potential of four coconut varieties (green dwarf, yellow dwarf, red dwarf and yellow Malaysian) was compared with two industrialized coconut waters and the lyophilized water of the green dwarf variety. All varieties were effective in scavenging the DPPH radical (IC50=73 mu L) and oxide nitric (0.1 mL with an IP of 29.9%) as well as in inhibiting the in vitro production of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (1 mL with an IP of 34.4%), highlighting the antioxidant properties of the green dwarf which it is the most common used. In cell culture, the green dwarf water was efficient in protecting against oxidative damages induced by hydrogen peroxide.