POLYPHENOLS BIOACCESSIBILITY AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY IN YOGURT ENRICHED WITH COCOA BEAN SHELL

Cocoa bean shells (CBS) is one of the main by-products of the cocoa roasting process, which represents 10% of total weight after the husking and grinding1. CBS is a potential source of dietary fibre and polyphenols recognized as dietary factors responsible for potential beneficial effects on human health. Therefore it could be used as functional ingredient in order to create novel foods with enhanced nutritional value minimizing the volume of agro-industrial wastes. The objective of this research was to evaluate the feasibility of using CBS as a source of antioxidants in yogurt production. CBS powders of different origins (Mexico and São Tomé) were added to yogurt at different concentration (2%, 4% and 6%) and the effect on physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics, total phenolic content and radical scavenging activity were evaluated during storage (21 days). Furthermore in vitro digestion of the different yogurts was performed in order to evaluate the bioaccessibility of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity after gastrointestinal digestion as well as to evaluate the effect of food matrix on the bioaccessibility of these active compounds.