J. Chem. Chem. Eng.

7 (2013) 70-75

DA VID

PUBLISHING

Dietary Fiber, Phytonutrients and Antioxidant Activity of Common Fruit Peels as Potential Functional Food Ingredient
Priscilla Alice L. Samonte1* and Trinidad P. Trinidad1, 2
1. Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas, Manila 1015, Philippines 2. Department of Science and Technology, Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Taguig City 1631, Philippines Received: November 16, 2012 / Accepted: December 07, 2012 / Published: January 25, 2013. Abstract: Mangiferaindica L. (carabao mango), AnnonaMuricata L. (soursop), Citrofortunellamicrocarpa(calamansi), and Musa acuminate balbisianaColla (ABB Group) (plantain banana) have long been used in the processed food industries. However, the peelsof these fruits are normally disposed as waste or at most used as fertilizer and feeds. The objective of the study is to characterize the peels of these fruits as functional food/ingredient. Freeze-dried fruits peels of carabao mango, soursop, calamansi and plantain banana were analyzed for proximate composition, dietary fiber and phytonutrients contents, fermentability invitro and antioxidant activity. Results showed soursop peels having significantly higher soluble (12.75 g/100 g sample) and insoluble (62.55 g/100 g sample) dietary fiber among the fruit peels studied. All peels produced significant amounts of short chain fatty acids, propionate > acetate > butyrate. Carabao mango peels produced the highest amount of acetate while calamansipeels, the highest propionate (215.8 3.6 mg/100 g). Carabao mango and soursop peels have significantly greater total polyphenols, flavonoids, anthocyanidins andantioxidant activity. The study showed that fruit peels of carabao mango, soursop, calamansi and plantain banana can be potential functional food ingredients. Key words: Mango, soursop, calamansi, plantain, peels, functional foods.

1. Introduction
Fruits are important natural sources of antioxidants and dietary fiber. For the purpose of transportation, food product development, and extension of shelf life, they are also processed into packaged juice drinks, food ingredients, and other food products. During processing, fruit peels, in most cases, are discarded and treated as wastes due to their lack of commercial application. Fruit peels that become wastes consequently add to the current severe pollution problem. Previous studies, however, showed that, in general, fruit peels contain higher concentrations of dietary fiber [1] and antioxidant compounds [2] than
* Corresponding author: Priscilla Alice L. Samonte, Ph.D., research fields: green chemistry, environmental chemistry, food chemistry. E-mail: plsamonte@yahoo.com.

the flesh of the fruit. It is therefore possible to utilize fruit peels as dietary fiber and antioxidant food additive to produce value-added food products for human consumption and they may play a role in the prevention for risk of chronic diseases e.g., diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. For the purpose of this study the peelings of the following Philippine fruits were evaluated: carabao mango (Mangifera indica L.), plantain banana (Musa acuminata balbisiana Colla (ABB Group) cv. Saba), soursop or guyabano (A. muricata L.) and calamansi (C. microcarpa). The general objective of the study was to characterize peels of carabao mango, soursop, calamansi, and plantain banana as functional food ingredient in terms of nutrient composition, dietary fiber content and their fermentability in vitro as well as

Dietary Fiber, Phytonutrients and Antioxidant Activity of Common Fruit Peels as Potential Functional Food Ingredient

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their phytonutrients and antioxidant activity. The peels of carabao mango, soursop, calamansi, and plantain banana as potential functional food ingredient can also be made into value-added products for human consumption and may play significant roles in the prevention for risk of chronic diseases while providing the local food industries and impoverished population with low-cost nutritional supplements and reducing their environmental impact. The production of fruit peel ingredients is very economical because it can be produced in a small or large scale. The raw material is obtained from the by-product (waste) of the processed food industry and the process and equipment used in its production is simple and cheap. Fruit peel powder as a good source of dietary fiber and antioxidant can be added to bakery products, recipes and other food products for good health.

moisture, ash, fat, protein, carbohydrates, and sugar [3], total soluble [4] and insoluble dietary fiber [5], total polyphenols [6], flavonoids [7], and anthocyanidins [8]. Dietary fiber fermentation of test samples simulating conditions in the large intestine (colon) was determined in vitro [9]. The antioxidant activity was determined using diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazul (DPPH) [10] and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) [11] assays.

3. Results
3.1 Proximate Analyses Table 1 shows the proximate analyses results. Soursop peels have the lowest moisture content showing that it has the best potential as dry food ingredient. They also have the lowest fat content and the highest carbohydrate contents among the four fruit peels studied. Plantain peels have the highest fat content and ash content, the latter is the indication of the additional nutrients which the peels may contain. Citrus peels have been shown in a separate study to be a good protein source [12]. As expected, in this study, calamansi peels have significantly the largest protein amount among the fruit peels tested. Lastly, carabao mango peels have the highest sugar content. 3.2 Total Dietary Fiber All fruit peels contained high amounts of total, soluble and insoluble dietary fiber. However, soursop peels contained significantly higher soluble (12.7 1.0 10-3 g/100 g sample) and insoluble (62.6 5.0 10-3 g/100 g sample) dietary fiber among the fruit peels studied (Table 2). This suggests that conversion of soursop peels into a food ingredient may play a role in the prevention, reduction and treatment of some
Total fat (g/100 g) 1.78 1.0 10-3b 1.02 2.0 10-4c 2.52 1.0 10-3b 8.74 2.0 10-3a Total sugar (g/100 g) 16.12 0.70c 23.98 0.45b 39.07 0.43a 25.93 0.91b Total carbohydrates (g/100 g) 72.30 14.18 83.10 25.66 80.30 2.29 63.60 11.84

2. Materials and Methods

2.1 Sample Preparation The peels were taken from fruits obtained from the following markets around Metro Manila to represent the common variety of the fruits available for consumption in the Metro-Balintawak Public Market, Divisoria Public Market, Bicutan Market, and Valenzuela fruit stalls. The fruits were rinsed under running water for 5 min before peeling manually. The peels were then placed in a freezer (at 4 oC) before lyophilization in a HETO (Dry Winner) freeze drier, which took an average of 7 days and pulverized after desired dryness was achieved. 2.2 Analytical Methods The pulverized free-dried samples were analyzed for
Table 1 Proximate analyses from freeze-dried fruit peels. Moisture (g/100 g) 10.95 0.03a 6.98 0.02d 9.26 0.07c 10.44 0.03b Ash (g/100 g) 5.58 2.00 10-3b 3.46 0.03d 4.42 2.40 10-3c 12.07 0.02a Protein (g/100 g) 9.41 0.07a 5.46 0.05b 3.47 0.02c 5.16 0.03b

Fruit peels Calamansi Soursop Mango Plantain

a, b, c, d

denote significant differences between samples at P < 0.05.

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Dietary Fiber, Phytonutrients and Antioxidant Activity of Common Fruit Peels as Potential Functional Food Ingredient Dietary fiber content from freeze-dried fruit peels. Soluble dietary fiber (g/100 g) 3.46 2.00 10-4 d, y 12.75 5.00 10-3 a, y 4.68 5.00 10-3 c, y 5.77 5.00 10-3 b, y

Table 2

Fruit peels Total dietary fiber (g/100 g) Insoluble dietary fiber (g/100 g) Calamansi 44.48 5.00 10-3c 41.02 5.00 10-3 c, x Soursop 75.30 3.00 10-3a 62.55 1.00 10-3 a, x Mango 43.66 0.01d 38.98 5.00 10-3 d, x b Plantain 49.60 0.01 43.83 5.00 10-3 b, x a, b, c, d denote significant differences between samples at P < 0.05; x, y denote significant differences between dietary fiber types at P < 0.05.

diseases, such as coronary heart diseases and cancer. Sugar and dietary fiber are types of carbohydrates. However, sugar, which is called available carbohydrates, is readily absorbed in the small intestine, while dietary fiber (unavailable carbohydrates), resists digestion and absorption in the small intestine and is metabolized in the colon. Table 3 shows that all fruit peels have significantly greater total dietary fiber than total sugar. This was most prominent in soursop with a ratio of TDF to TS of 3:1. In fact, most of the carbohydrates content of soursop comes from its dietary fiber content. Similar results were obtained for calamansi. Plantain bananas TDF to TS ratio is 2:1, while mangos is 1:1. Although, mango has almost parity amounts of dietary fiber and sugar, it was found in an earlier study [18], that the GI of carabao mango is 46, which is considered low. This suggests that the sugar component of mango is fructose rather than glucose. 3.3 Fermentability After fermentation, all fruit peels produced
Table 3

significant amounts of short chain fatty acids with propionate > acetate > butyrate as shown in Table 4. Mango peels produced the highest amount of acetate, while calamansi peels produced the highest amount of propionate and was the only fruit peel that produced trace amounts of butyrate. 3.4 Total Phytonutrient Content and Antioxidant Activity All fruit peels contained considerable amounts of polyphenols, flavonoids and anthocyanidin (Table 5). Mango peels have the highest polyphenol content (11,233.70 gca/100 g 901.47) followed by soursop peels, while lowest content was measured for plantain banana (687.51 gca/100 g 102.20). Total flavonoid content in the freeze-dried fuit peel samples ranged from 230.73 22.91 mg catechin equivalent/100 g to 3,137.70 144.02 mg catechin equivalent/100 g. Soursop peels have the highest flavonoid content and anthocyanidin contents followed by carabao mango.
Total dietary fiber (g/100 g) 44.48 0.01c, x 75.30 0.00a, x 43.66 0.01d, x 49.60 0.01b, x

Total carbohydrates, sugar and dietary fiber from freeze-dried fruit peels.

Fruit peels Total carbohydrates (g/100 g) Total sugar (g/100 g) c Calamansi 72.30 0.01 16.12 0.99c, y a Soursop 83 .10 0.01 23.98 0.64b, y b Mango 80.30 0.01 39.07 0.61a, y d Plantain 63.60 0.01 25.93 1.28b, y a, b, c, d denote significant differences between samples at P < 0.05. x, y denote significant differences between carbohydrate types at P < 0.05. Table 4 SCFA content from freeze-dried fruit peels. Total SCFA (mg/g) 236.71 68.48a 43.41 13.27d 155.91 13.10b 128.99 50.27c Acetate (mg/g) 13.69 0.96b 5.46 0.26c 61.91 1.92a 2.93 0.24 d Fruit peels Calamansi Soursop Mango Plantain
a,b,c,d

Propionate (mg/g) 215.82 3.57a 37.95 0.53d 94.00 2.15c 126.07 5.42b

Butyrate (mg/g) 5.47 0.15a 0 0 0

denote significant differences between samples at P < 0.05.

Dietary Fiber, Phytonutrients and Antioxidant Activity of Common Fruit Peels as Potential Functional Food Ingredient Table 5 Fruit peel Calamansi Soursop Mango Plantain
a, b, c ,d

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Total phytonutrient contents of freeze-dried fruit peels. Total polyphenols mg GA/100 g sample 2,485.87 251.20c 7,504.44 348.61b 11,233.70 450.74a 687.51 51.10d Total flavonoid mg catechin/100 g sample 263.42 16.74c 3,137.70 72.01a 2,069.09 19.71b 230.73 11.45c Total anthocyanidin mg catechin/100 g sample 558.69 4.28d 2,338.06 16.64a 1,253.06 14.62b 701.09 11.54c

denote significant differences between samples at P < 0.05. Total antioxidant activity of freeze-dried fruit peels. FRAP-average mmol Fe2/100 g sample 0.02 1.00 10-3c 0.71 0.12a 0.98 0.10a 0.11 0.01b DPPH-% inhibition of DPPH radical 15.79 0.01c 88.93 0.04a 94.08 0.02a 29.89 1.00 10-3b

Table 6

Fruit peel Calamansi Soursop Mango Plantain

a,b,c,d

denote significant differences between samples at P < 0.05.

The results of the FRAP and DPPH assays statistically showed that they have the same direction for the antioxidant effect for the four fruit peelscalamansi < plantain < soursop < mango. In this study it is shown that the different fruit peels have widely different antioxidant activities in terms of reducing capacity, ranging from 15 mol Fe2/g in calamansi to 981 mol Fe2/g in mangoes. The relationship between total phenol, flavonoid, and anthocyanidin contents with antioxidant activity in the fruit peel samples indicated that there was a positive and highly significant (P < 0.001) relationship between antioxidant activity and total polyphenols, indicating that the antioxidant activity of the peels may come from classes of polyphenols other than flavonoids and anthocyanidins. It is therefore recommended to test for other types of polyphenols such as simple phenols, resveratrol, xanthones, and phenolics acids. The positive correlation between total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity in freeze-dried fruit peels suggest that the polyphenols in the samples can reduce metals and inhibit free radical scavenging activity. The free-radical inhibiting capacity of the sample peels can be attributed mainly to their flavonoid contents given high relationship between total flavonoids and percent of inhibitory capacity against free radicals. In summary, calamansi, soursop, mango and

plantain peels contain significant amount of dietary fiber and phytonutrients that may help prevent risk for certain chronic diseases including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and some forms of cancer. Calamansi and plantain peels are better dietary fiber sources than as antioxidant sources. Soursop and mango peels, on the other hand, are good sources of both dietary fiber and antioxidant. All four fruit peels can be preventive for cardiovascular diseases as shown by their propionate production after dietary fiber fermentation. In addition, the dietary fiber content of these fruit peels may have physiological effect in relation to glucose response and cholesterol metabolism, and may prevent the risk of diabetes mellitus and heart disease.

4. Discussion
Soursop peels have the highest amount of dietary fiber but was found to be the least fermentable. This is because of its higher insoluble dietary fiber content in comparison to the other fruit peels studied. Insoluble dietary fiber tends to be less fermentable due to its fibrous structure. Fibers that are more fibrous are resistant to bacterial fermentation causing a decrease in the SCFA as fermentation products. The high results of propionate for all fruit peels suggest protective effect for risk of cardiovascular disease since propionate is

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Dietary Fiber, Phytonutrients and Antioxidant Activity of Common Fruit Peels as Potential Functional Food Ingredient

believed to be a potent inhibitor of the enzyme HMG-CoA (-Hydroxy--Methylglutaryl-CoA) reductase, the limiting enzyme for cholesterol synthesis [13]. Humans synthesize about 1,500 mg cholesterol daily while normal diet contains 300-600 mg cholesterol. Previous studies have shown that reduction in cholesterol synthesis is the most efficient way to lower plasma cholesterol level. Statin types of drugs are strong HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors in the liver and have shown to reduce plasma cholesterol by up to 30% in hypercholesterolemia patients. But they have side effects including rashes and gastrointestinal symptoms. Therefore, functional foods which lower plasma cholesterol level play an important role in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease. Development of these functional foods is of interest to both public and scientific community [14]. Significantly higher polyphenol contents of soursop, mango, and calamansi compared to their total flavonoid and anthocyanidin contents indicate that the majority of the polyphenolic compounds in these peels are of non-flavonoid types such as resveratrol, phenolic acids, and carotenoids. The results of the study thus signify that the rich polyphenols found in mango and soursop flesh including p-coumaric acid, procyanidin, gallic acid, caffeic acid, catechins, tannins, xanthone, and the unique mango compound-, mangiferin maybe present in even bigger amounts in the peel since a similar study done in Korea showed that mango peels contained more polyphenols than flesh [15]. Hence, mango and soursop peels, by-products of the food processing industry, shows potential as a functional foods or value added ingredients. The total polyphenol content of plantain, on the other hand, is shown to be of the anthocyanidin type. Thus, the antioxidative activity of plantain peels as proven by a study done by Arawande et al. [16] comes from anthocyanidin compounds which have a range of biological activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anti-cancer activities. All four fruit peels may be preventive for

cardiovascular diseases as shown by their propionate production after dietary fiber fermentation. In addition, the dietary fiber content of these fruit peels may have physiological effect in relation to glucose response and cholesterol metabolism, and may prevent the risk of diabetes mellitus and heart disease. The significant amount of polyphenols present in fruit peels resulted in a strong association with reducing power and percent inhibition of free radical formation suggesting that these peels are good source of antioxidants and thereby may play an important role in the prevention for risk of chronic diseases.

5. Conclusions
In conclusion, fruit peels of mango (carabao), soursop, calamansi, and plantain have been found to be rich sources of dietary fiber and phytonutrients and may be potential functional food/ingredients. However, the potential contaminants of the fruit peels must be investigated for safety assessment of the peels. Lastly, future work on value-added products as well as the efficacy and effectiveness of these peels in the prevention for risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases and some forms of cancer should be investigated to validate the results obtained from this study.

Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Dr. Mario V. Capanzana, Director of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, where the study took place; Dr. Rosario S. Sagum, Aida C. Mallillin, Marco P. De Leon, Melissa S. Borlagdan, and Mark Ryan Q. Ibardaloza at the Nutrient AvailabilityNRDD NBD, FNRI, DOST for their technical assistance and for the financial support from the Philippine Council for Health Research and DevelopmentDOST.

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