Bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds after non-thermal processing of an exotic fruit juice blend sweetened with Stevia rebaudiana

Abstract A comparative study of the bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity in a fruit juice- Stevia rebaudiana mixture processed by pulsed electric fields (PEF), high voltage electrical discharges (HVED) and ultrasound (USN) technology at two equivalent energy inputs (32–256 kJ/kg) was made using an in vitro model. Ascorbic acid was not detected following intestinal digestion, while HVED, PEF and USN treatments increased total carotenoid bioaccessibility. HVED at an energy input of 32 kJ/kg improved bioaccessibility of phenolic compounds (34.2%), anthocyanins (31.0%) and antioxidant capacity (35.8%, 29.1%, 31.9%, for TEAC, ORAC and DPPH assay, respectively) compared to untreated sample. This was also observed for PEF treated samples at an energy input of 256 kJ/kg (37.0%, 15.6%, 29.4%, 26.5%, 23.5% for phenolics, anthocyanins, and antioxidant capacity using TEAC, ORAC and DPPH method, respectively). Consequently, pulsed electric technologies (HVED and PEF) show good prospects for enhanced bioaccessibility of compounds with putative health benefit.