Carotenoid composition of Brazilian fruits and vegetables.
Rodriguez-Amaya D. B., Amaya-Farfan J., Kimura M.
Author Affiliation: Department of Food Science, Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, C.P. 6121, Campinas, São Paulo 13083-862, Brazil.
: 409-416
Abstract : Brazil has a wide diversity of food sources of carotenoids. The updated Brazilian database consists of more than 270 items of fruits, vegetables and their prepared and processed products. The database demonstrates variations due to cultivar, maturity, production technique, climate and processing. Many of these foods are not found in the US and European databases. Good to rich sources (>20 mg/g) of ?-carotene include: acerola (Malpighia glabra); bocaiúva; mango cv. Extreme; and tucumã. Sources of both ?-carotene and ?-carotene are buriti, carrot, Cucurbita moschata cultivars Menina Brasileira, Baianinha and Goianinha, and red palm oil. Commercially produced and uncultivated or semi-cultivated leafy vegetables, C. maxima cv. Jerimum Caboclo and the hybrid Tetsukabuto, cooked broccoli are sources of xanthophyll and ?-carotene. The edible Tropaeolum majus flower is especially rich in xanthophyll. Although many fruits have ?-cryptoxanthin as principal carotenoid (i.e. caja, nectarine, peach, orange-fleshed pawpaw and tree tomato), the levels were below 20 µg/g. Good to rich sources of lycopene are guava and guava products, pawpaw, pitanga and pitanga juice, tomato and tomato products and watermelon. Sources of zeaxanthin were rare. Although the principal carotenoid of piqui, the amount was low, lower than that found in buriti.