Abstract

Lyophilized Brazilian and Floridian acai samples were analyzed for their oxygen radical absorbance capacities (ORAC values) and concentrations of the two anthocyanins that are known to exist in acai. The ORAC values were statistically the same: 750±120 and 730±130 Trolox equivalents per g (TE/g) for Floridian and Brazilian acai, respectively. However, Brazilian acai had more cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (Cy-glu) and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside (4.0 and 2.4 mg/g, respectively) than Floridian acai (0.8 and 0.5 mg/g, respectively). Thus, the two known anthocyanins account for a statistically insignificant amount of the ORAC values for these samples.

Keywords: Acai, ORAC, cyanidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-rutinoside, pulp, jucies, anthocyanins, cy-glu, cy-rut, fluorescein