Caracterização química e tecnológica funcional das massas de polpas de banana verde cozida dos cultivares Nanica (Musa cavendishii), Nanicão (Musa cavendishii) e Prata (Musa sapientum), com ênfase nos teores de amido resistente e carotenoides

Abstract

The boiled green banana pulp mass (Musa spp.) is a food matrix that has been arousing interest in the domestic market by reason of its low technological sophistication and its benefits to the human health, mainly due to the presence of bioactive compounds and resistant starch. Besides, the development of a food product derived from green bananas appears as a sustainable approach to minimize the waste of the fruit. In spite of its economical, social and physiological importance, the boiled green banana pulp mass (GBPm) has been scarcely investigated. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the chemical composition and functional properties of GBPm from the three most consumed cultivars in Brazil: Nanica (Musa cavendishii, AAA group), Nanicão (Musa cavendishii, AAA group) and Prata (Musa sapientum, AAB group). The degree of maturation of green bananas was determined by colorimetric analysis through a digital colorimeter. The chemical parameters - titratable acidity (TA), pH, moisture, ash, fat, protein, total carbohydrates, dietary fiber (DF) and its fractions, resistant starch (RS), total carotenoids (TC), lutein, α-carotene, β-carotene and cis isomers - and the functional properties - water-holding capacity (WHC) and oil retention capacity (ORC) - of GBPm were determined by validated methods, and the results of the three cultivars were compared. The comparison was conducted by one-way ANOVA with Tukey post-test, using the software SPSS 17.0 3.5. Regarding the chemical composition, the lipid content was not statistically different among cultivars (0.2 to 0.4%), while water contents (74.8 to 79.6%), ash (2.6 to 3.3%), protein (4.6 to 5.7%) and carbohydrates (90.9 to 92.0%) varied statistically (p ≤ 0.05). There was no statistical difference between the TA values, in % of malic acid (average 0.2 ± 0.03), pH (4.7 to 4.8), WHC (1.6 to 1.8 g of water / g of GBPm) and ORC (0.5 to 0.7 g of oil / g of GBPm). The GBPm of Nanica and Nanicão showed higher RS contents (66.2 ± 11.5 and 65.9 ± 5.7 %, respectively; p = 0.346) than Prata (51.6 ± 5.8%; p = 0.001). The DF content was below 3% of the product (wet basis) in the GBPm of the three cultivars, therefore, it cannot be considered as source of this food component. It was observed a high content of indigestible carbohydrates in the GBPm of the three cultivars, justifying the low caloric value of matrices (16-38 kcal; on a wet basis). The GBPm of Nanica and Nanicão cultivars showed, respectively, higher concentrations of TC (16.4 ± 0.23 and 13.3 ± 0.31 µg/g), lutein (1.1 ± 0.06 and 1.3 ± 0.14 µg/g), α-carotene (4.8 ± 0.06 and 4.1 ± 0.04 µg/g), β-carotene (5.7 ± 0.04 and 4.2 ± 0.01 µg/g), 13-cis-β-carotene (1.3 ± 0.01 and 1.0 ± 0.03 µg/g) and 9-cis-β-carotene (0.4 ± 0.03 and 0.3 ± 0.0 µg/g), than the Prata cultivar (4.7 ± 0.14 µg/g, 0.8 ± 0.06 µg/g, 1.1 ± 0.01 µg/g, 1.5 ± 0.01 µg/g, 0.3 ± 0.0 µg/g and 0.2 ± 0.02 µg/g, respectively). When comparing the equivalent retinol values of GBPm with other foods of plant origin, it was observed lower levels of these compounds in the three cultivars. Thus, this food matrix is not a natural source of provitamin A. The GBPm of Nanica and Nanicão are the most interesting raw materials from a nutritional and functional point of view due to the high concentration of RS