Sugars, Organic Acids and Total Phenols in Varieties of Chestnut Fruits from Tenerife (Spain)

M. Hernández Suárez, B. Rodríguez Galdón, D. Ríos Mesa, C. Díaz Romero, E. Rodríguez Rodríguez

Agriculture by Biodiversity Conservation Center of Tenerife, Tacoronte, Spain.
Agriculture Technology National Centre “Extremadura” CTAEX, Villafranco del Guadiana, Badajoz, Spain.
Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Food Science Department, La laguna University, La laguna, Spain.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, Extremadura University, Badajoz, Spain.

DOI: 10.4236/fns.2012.36096                

Abstract

The sugar, organic and total phenol contents were determined in 21 varieties of chestnut from Tenerife (Spain). Sucrose, fructose and glucose were determined by HPLC/refraction index being the sucrose the sugar with the highest content. The organic acids were determined by HPLC/diode array, and the chestnuts had an organic acids profile characterized by the following compounds: oxalic, glutamic, tartaric, pyruvic, malic, ascorbic, citric, fumaric and cis-aconitic acids. Ascorbic, citric and malic acids were the major organic acids. There were differences in the composition of sugars, total phenols and organic acids between the chestnut varieties. The production zone only significantly affected the contents of moisture, sucrose, total phenols and fructose. The correlations between glucose-fructose, malic acid-fumaric acid, tartaric acid-oxalic acid could be emphasized. An important contribution to the intake of antioxidants is observed for the consumption of chestnuts.

Keywords

Chestnut; HPLC; Chemical Composition; Statistics

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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