A novel beverage rich in antioxidant phenolics: Maqui berry (Aristotelia chilensis) and lemon juice Amadeo Gironés-Vilaplana, Pedro Mena, Cristina García-Viguera, Diego A. Moreno * Department of Food Science and Technology, CEBAS-CSIC, P.O. Box 164, E-30100 Espinardo, Murcia, Spain article info Article history: Received 5 October 2011 Received in revised form 15 December 2011 Accepted 7 January 2012 Keywords: Berries Anthocyanin Vitamin C abstract In recent years, the interest in dietary antioxidants and bioactive compounds, mainly found in vegetables, has prompted research in the field of new polyphenol-rich drinks. The aim of the present work was to design new beverages using lemon juice and maqui (Aristotelia chilensis), rich in flavonoids and vitamin C. The composition of the new beverages as well as their compounds stability, antioxidant capacity and phenolic content over 70 days of storage period were studied. Results showed how anthocyanins and other phytochemicals from maqui preserved vitamin C and other flavonoids in the new mixtures owing to a higher rate of anthocyanin degradation. However, for the colour characteristics, the CIELab parameters displayed only slight variations, and the samples presented attractive colour during storage. The new beverages also had high values of in vitro antioxidant capacity, mainly owed to the maqui polyphenols, with a strong stability throughout study. Therefore, a new designed drink for the growing market of high nutritional and health-promoting food products has been developed. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Nowadays, there is a growing dietary interest on health- promoting berries, which are fruits rich in anthocyanins among other phenolic phytochemicals, and other bioactive compounds (Seeram et al., 2008). Among berries, maqui (Arisotelia chilensis (Mol.) Stuntz) is a Chilean native evergreen shrub of the Elaeo- carpaceae family that grows in Central and Southern areas of the country and produces red/purple colour berries about 6 mm in diameter. Fruits are usually eaten fresh or used for juice and jams (Escribano-Bailón, Alcalde-Eon, Muñoz, Rivas-Gonzalo, & Santos- Buelga, 2006). In the traditional native herbal medicine, infusions of maqui fruits and leaves have long been used to treat sore throats, kidney pain, digestive ailments (tumours and ulcers), fever, and scarring injuries (Suwalsky, Vargas, Avello, Villena, & Sotomayor, 2008). Recently, scientific research has demonstrated that these fruits have a strong in vitro antioxidant, anti-atherogenic and car- dioprotective activities, and in vitro both adipogenesis and inflammation inhibitory effects, among others (Céspedes, El-Hafidi, Pavon, & Alarcon, 2008; Schreckinger, Wang, Yousef, Lila, & De Mejia, 2010a). Therapeutical properties of maqui have been related to their high polyphenols content, concretely anthocyanins: delphinidin 3- sambubioside-5-glucoside, delphinidin 3,5-diglucoside, delphini- din 3-sambubioside, delphinidin 3-glucoside, cyanidin 3- sambubioside-5-glucoside, cyanidin 3,5-diglucoside, cyanidin 3- sambubioside, and cyanidin 3-glucoside (Escribano-Bailón et al., 2006; Schreckinger, Wang, et al., 2010a). Consequently, owing to the presence of these anthocyanins, maqui berries can also be used as natural colourants (Escribano-Bailón et al., 2006), giving an attractive red colour to new mixed-juices. On the other hand, Citrus genus is the most important fruit crop in the world. Lemon (Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.) is the third most important citrus crop (González-Molina, Domínguez-Perles, Moreno, & García-Viguera, 2010). Furthermore, lemon fruit is also a rich source of nutrients, including vitamin C (ascorbic acid- þ dehidroascorbic acid), minerals, citric acid, and flavonoids, which provide numerous health benefits (González-Molina et al., 2010). Vitamin C is probably the most important water-soluble antioxi- dant as well as an efficient scavenger of reactive oxygen species, and lemon is a rich source of this nutrient (González-Molina et al., 2010). With respect to flavonoids, hesperidin and eriocitrin (flava- nones) and diosmetin glycosides (flavones) are the main compounds (Gil-Izquierdo, Riquelme, Porras, & Ferreres, 2004). Other notable flavonoids have been identified in lemon: vicenin-2 (flavone), diosmin (flavone), quercetin and myricetin (flavonols) as well as other hydroxycinnamic acids (Gil-Izquierdo et al., 2004; * Corresponding author. CEBAS-CSIC, Phytochemistry Laboratory, Food Science and Technology Department, P.O. Box 164, E-30100 Espinardo, Murcia, Spain. Tel.: þ34 968 396304; fax: þ34 968 396213. E-mail address: dmoreno@cebas.csic.es (D.A. Moreno). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect LWT - Food Science and Technology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/lwt 0023-6438/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.lwt.2012.01.020 LWT - Food Science and Technology 47 (2012) 279e286