Fates of bioactive compounds and antioxidant activities of red pitaya pulp upon in vitro gastrointestinal digestion

Xian Lin, Xiangyu Li, Ying Huang, Jing Wen, Yuanshan Yu, Daobang Tang, Baojun Xu*, Yujuan Xu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Abstract

Health benefit effects of bioactive compounds depend on their bioavailabilities, which could vary according to factors including food matrix and digestion environment. To understand the “bioaccessible” health benefit of red pitay pulp, the INFOGEST static in vitro simulation of gastrointestinal (GI) digestion model and targeted metabolomics method were applied to unravel the fates of bioactive compounds in the whole food of red pitaya pulp during GI digestion. The antioxidant activity as one of the health benefit indices was also assessed to compare the changes in bioactive properties of red pitaya pulp. Results showed that, after GI digestion, total phenolic and flavonoid content increased by 84% and 4.55 folds, respectively. But total betacyanin content decreased. All the detected phenolic acids increased during the GI process, and lots of new phenolic compounds were produced. The overall chemical antioxidant capacity of red pitaya pulp increased after GI digestion. Correlation analysis results indicated that flavonoids and ferulic acid were probably the primary sources of the antioxidant capacity of the red pitaya pulp and its digests. Moreover, the cytoprotective effects against H2O2-induced oxidative damage varied among gastric cell, enterocyte and hepatocyte. The GI digests of red pitaya pulp could better alleviate the H2O2-induced oxidative stress in cells by preventing the increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS), inhibiting the production of malondialdehyde (MDA), increasing the production of glutathione (GSH), and promoting the activities of catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). These findings can be used as a basis for future studies in the design and production of functional ingredients/foods.

Original languageEnglish
Article number115495
Number of pages12
JournalFood Research International
Volume200
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2025

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Food Science

User-Defined Keywords

  • Antioxidant activity
  • Bioactive compound
  • Gastrointestinal digestion
  • Red pitaya

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