Effects of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) on bioaccessibility, as well as antioxidant activity, mineral and starch contents in Granny Smith apple Vilbett Briones-Labarca a,⇑ , Gabriela Venegas-Cubillos a , Susana Ortiz-Portilla a , Marcelo Chacana-Ojeda a , Hector Maureira b a Department of Food Engineering, Universidad de La Serena, Avenida Raúl Bitrán s/n, 599, La Serena, Chile b Central Laboratory Analysis, Universidad de La Serena, Cisternas Esq. Anfión Muñoz s/n, La Serena, Chile article info Article history: Received 29 September 2010 Received in revised form 7 March 2011 Accepted 14 March 2011 Available online 21 March 2011 Keywords: Apple High hydrostatic pressure In-vitro Bioaccessibility Antioxidant Mineral Starch abstract The aim of this work was to study the effect of high hydrostatic pressure on the bioaccessibility of specific nutrients (antioxidant, minerals and starch) in apple and to establish processing conditions that maxi- mise the health benefits. The apple was pressurised at 500 MPa during 2, 4, 8 and 10 min. The antioxidant activity, mineral and starch content and bioaccessibility of apple samples were significantly affected by the processing and digestion conditions. Therefore, these results indicated that in vitro digestion has a noticeable effect on the antioxidant concentration, IC 50 , with much lower values (a smaller IC 50 value cor- responds to a higher antioxidant activity) of apple samples compared with those untreated and non- digestion. Apple has the highest calcium content (30.33 ± 1.94 mg/100 g), iron (14.46 ± 3.49 mg/100 g) and zinc (6.22 ± 0.91 mg/100 g). High hydrostatic pressure increased the mineral contents availability by 2.11–303.00% for calcium, 4.63–10.93% for iron and 8.68–28.93% for zinc. The dialysability and solu- bility of calcium, iron and zinc with respect to the values for the untreated sample were reduced by this high pressure technique. Consumption of apple under high hydrostatic pressure may supply substantial antioxidants, mineral and starch, which may provide health promoting and disease preventing effects. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The diet is important for human health because it is associated with the morbidity and mortality in the chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension and obesity. Several investigations have estimated that one-third of all cancer cases and one-half of cardiovascular diseases and hypertension can be attributed to diet (Reddy & Martijn, 2004; Wolfe, Wu, & Liu, 2003). Fruits contain many different dietary phytonutrients which contribute to the prevention of degenerative diseases caused by oxidative stress (Kaur & Kapoor, 2001). The intake of food rich in phenolic acids, polyphenols and flavonoids scavenge free radicals such as peroxide, hydroperoxide or lipid peroxyl, thus inhibiting the oxidative mechanism that leads to degenerative diseases (Hal- vorsen et al., 2006; Lam, Woo, Leung, & Cheng, 2007; Pellegrini et al., 2003; Yi-Zhong, Luo, Mei, & Corke, 2004). Apples are one of the most frequently consumed fruits in the world, preferably in Europe, and constitute a main source of flavo- noid intake in the European diet, after onions and tea (Hertog, Feskens, Hollman, Katan, & Kromhout, 1993; Scalbert & Williamson, 2000). Apples are an important source of phenols and antioxidants (Vinson, Su, Zubik, & Bose, 2001; Yang & Lui, 2009) and their con- sumption is associated to reduced risk of several diseases (Boyer & Liu, 2004). The polyphenol profiles of all varieties of apples are practically identical, but concentrations may range from 0.1 to 5 g total polyphenols/kg fresh wt and may be as high as 10 g/kg in cer- tain varieties of cider apples (Guyot, Marnet, Laraba, Sanoner, & Drilleau, 1998; Sanoner, Guyot, Marnet, Molle, & Drilleau, 1999). Minerals are needed by the body in different amounts, depend- ing on the element, to maintain good health. The terms trace min- erals or trace elements can refer to essential, non-essential, or toxic elements which are found in very small amounts in human body (Promchan & Shiowatana, 2005). Iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and calcium (Ca) are essential nutrients that are often lacking in human diets, either due to insufficient intake or to poor absorption of food. In developing countries, deficiencies of Fe and Zn lead to much suffer- ing and death. In industrialised countries, chronic Ca deficiency is one of the important causes of reduced bone mass and osteoporo- sis in the elderly (Frossard, Bucher, Mächler, Mozafar, & Hurrell, 2000). Insufficient mineral intake for children in the first year of life, when growth is accelerated, especially a lack of iron, calcium, and zinc, is responsible for diseases such as iron deficiency anae- mia, rickets, osteoporosis, and immune diseases. Early mineral deficiency also can lead to an increase in infectious diseases, which cannot only influence immediate health but also may have an 0308-8146/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.03.074 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +56 51 204304; fax: +56 51 204327. E-mail address: vbriones@userena.cl (V. Briones-Labarca). Food Chemistry 128 (2011) 520–529 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Chemistry journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem