Determinación de compuestos fenólicos y capacidad antioxidante del yogurt con adición de extracto hidroalcohólico de la cascarilla del cacao (Theobroma cacao L.).

Abstract

The aim of this work was to determine the phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of yogurt enriched with cocoa shell extract. Cocoa shell extract was obtained by means of an ethanol-water solution in a ratio of (70:30 v/v). The extract was microencapsulated with sodium alginate. Subsequently, natural yogurt was prepared and the extract was added at different concentrations. (T1 = 2%, T2 = 5%, T3 = 8%) encapsulated and (T4 = 2%, T5 = 5%, T6 = 8%) non-encapsulated. The quantification of total polyphenols was determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method and the absorbance of the solution was measured at 760 nm in the spectrophotometer. On the other hand, the antioxidant capacity was measured by the free radical solution ABTS•+. The Duncan test indicates that in both tests T6 reached the maximum values of (51.41 to ±0.020 EAG/100 mL) for CTP and (51.41a±0.020 mg TROLOX/L) for CAO on days 5, 10 and 15, which are statistically different between the different treatments with a significance level of p<0.05 (95%). The pH and acidity were determined, reporting stability up to 10 days. The viability of the lactic acid bacteria was analyzed by the dilution and pour plate method, using MRS agar for Lactobacillus. It was reported that treatments T4, T5 and T6 presented the greatest increases in the microbial load, with values that exceeded 1.06x106 cfu/mL in the 15 days of evaluation. Sensory analysis, which involved 30 untrained judges, reported that T3 had the highest acceptability among the other treatments. The results obtained confirm that the addition of phenolic compounds extracted from cocoa husks to yogurt confers antioxidant properties, making it a food with potential health benefits.