Characterization of Bioactive Compounds in Northern Amazon Fruits

Fruits and vegetables are highly appreciated because they are constituted by active phytochemicals with functional properties for the organism acting with modulating pharmacological effect. Given the pharmacological properties of this type of food, in this work were studied the concentrations of vitamin C, total carotenoids and reducing and non-reducing sugars of nine fruits developed in the northern Amazon region- Abiu, Acerola, Araçá, Bacuparí, Biribá, Camu-camu, Fruta-do-conde, Graviola and Tapereba. The concentration of vitamin C, the highest concentration in the shell of Camu-camu 2521.51 mg 100 g-1 and for acerola with 1731.4 mg 100 g-1 stand out. The highest concentrations of total carotenoids were also found for the Camu-camu, with concentrations of 0.67 mg 100 g-1 the shell of Camu-camu and 0.57 mg 100 g-1 for the pulp. The concentrations of sugars are higher for the pulps, with the highest concentrations for the pulp of the Fruta-do-conde with 16.31 g 100 g-1 followed by the pulp of the Graviola, both of the Annonaceae family with a concentration of 15.61 g 100 g-1. The different bioactive molecules were correlated for the different parts of the fruit, by means of multivariate analysis techniques (PCA and HCA), where 90.1% of the cases were explained for the pulps, 65.4% for the shell of the fruits and finally the 88.5% of the cases for the seeds. Given the results obtained in this work, these fruits can be used for the preparation of foods with functional interest.