Frutas

Article
pubs.acs.org/JAFC

First Web-Based Database on Total Phenolics and Oxygen Radical
Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) of Fruits Produced and Consumed
within the South Andes Region of South America
Hernan Speisky,*,†,# Camilo Lopez-Alarcon,‡ Maritza Gomez,† Jocelyn Fuentes,†
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†
and Cristian Sandoval-Acuña
†

Laboratory of Antioxidants, Nutrition and Food Technology Institute(INTA), ‡Facultad de Quimica, Pontificia Universidad
Catolica de Chile, and #Faculty of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
́
ABSTRACT: This paper reports the first database on antioxidants contained in fruits produced and consumed within the south
Andes region of South America. The database (www.portalantioxidantes.com) contains over 500 total phenolics (TP)and
ORAC values for more than 120 species/varieties of fruits. All analyses were conducted by a single ISO/IEC 17025-certified
laboratory. The characterization comprised native berries such as maqui (Aristotelia chilensis), murtilla (Ugni molinae), and
calafate (Barberis microphylla), which largely outscored all other studied fruits. Major differences in TP and ORAC were observed
as a function ofthe fruit variety in berries, avocado, cherries, and apples. In fruits such as pears, apples, apricots, and peaches, a
significant part of the TP and ORAC was accounted for by the antioxidants present in the peel. These data should be useful to
estimate the fruit-based intake of TP and, through the ORAC data, their antioxidant-related contribution to the diet of south
Andes populations.KEYWORDS: database, fruits, antioxidants, ORAC, phenolics, polyphenols

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INTRODUCTION
Considerable evidence has accumulated to substantiate the
claim that a high consumption of fruits and vegetables is
directly associated with major health-related benefits. At the
epidemiological level, such benefits are expressed as a reduction
in the relative risk of developing several nontransmissiblechronic diseases, among which are included cardiovascular and
tumoral diseases.1−5 Although fruits and vegetables contain a
large number of phytochemicals, most of the available evidence
indicates that the health benefits associated with their high
consumption could be largely attributed to the high content of
molecules that feature antioxidant activity.6,7 The claim that
implies the involvementof such molecules as being primarily
responsible for the health-promoting effects of fruits and
vegetables is supported, largely, by the existence of
experimentally proven hypotheses in which the occurrence of
oxidative stress is key toward the initiation and/or progression
of each of the above-mentioned diseases.8−10 In addition,
numerous pieces of evidence also exist whereby the preventionof such stress has been shown to be an effective manner to
either ameliorate, retard, or prevent, in their corresponding
animal models, the occurrence of cardiovascular or tumoral
diseases.11−14
Within fruits and vegetables, molecules featuring antioxidant
activity comprise (i) the so-called “antioxidant vitamins”
(ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol), (ii) the pro-vitamin A
carotenoids(α-carotene, β-carotene, and cryptoxanthine), (iii)
other carotenoids (such as lutein, lycopene, and zeaxanthine),
and (iv) a large number of phenolic compounds, which
comprise mostly flavonoids and nonflavonoids. With few
exceptions, phenolic compounds account for most of the
antioxidant activity found in fruits and vegetables.15,16 In view
© XXXX American Chemical Society

of the latter, the totalcontent of these compounds (total
phenolics; TP) has been long assayed as a suitable form to
estimate the antioxidant richness of plant-derived foods. In line
with the abundance of phenolics in such foods and their
recognized contribution to the whole antioxidant activity,
correlations between total phenolics and ORAC values have
often been reported.17 As known, the oxygen radical...