Determinación de la calidad fenólica total de la pulpa del café Coffea arabica. L.

Abstract

In the food industry, there has been a growing interest in the use of antioxidants. In this respect, coffee is the second most traded product in the world. However, the coffee industry uses only 18.5 % of the fruit. The pulp, which is about 44 % of the whole fruit by weight, is discarded in this process. For this reason, there is a need for finding uses for this raw material, which contains a variety of phenolic compounds and antioxidants. The present study evaluated the best technique for extracting antioxidants. The independent variables were solvent concentration and temperature of extraction. Total, phenolic content and antioxidant capacity were the response variables, which were measured by using the Folin Ciocalteu method for total phenols, and FRAP and DPPH for the antioxidant capacity. The optimal conditions of extraction were a mixture of solvent EtOH-H2O (50-50, v/v) at a temperature of 60 °C, with values of EAG 3113 mg/100g for total phenols, and 190 and 220 μmol E.T/g for FRAP and DPPH respectively. As for IC50, we obtained 34 μg/mL, which demonstrates that the coffee pulp has a moderate antioxidant potential; thus, it is considered as an alternative source of antioxidants.