Comparative Studies of Antioxidant Activities and Nutritional Constituents of Persimmon Juice (Diospyros kaki L. cv. Gapjubaekmok).
The objectives of this research were to evaluate antioxidant activities and nutritional components, including phenolic acid, catechin, organic acid, sugar, and amino acid, of persimmon juice from persimmons grown in different regions around Korea. Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) exhibits potent antioxidant effects in DPPH, ABTS, reducing power, and FRAP methods of analysis. The levels of nutritional constituents showed significant differences among all the samples. In particular, tartaric acid, glucose, gallic acid, epicatechin gallate and aspartic acid were observed to be the predominant component for each of their general chemical groups, with total average contents of 1876.51 mg/kg, 62.69 g/kg, 12.73 mg/kg, 208.99 mg/kg, and 31.84 mg/100 g, respectively. Interestingly, persimmons from the Hadong region presented the highest sugar (130.60 g/kg), phenolic acid (42.27 mg/kg), and catechin (527.97 mg/kg) contents in comparison with other regional samples. Moreover, this location exhibited the greatest antioxidant activity with highest total phenolic (298.01 mg GAE/kg) and flavonoid (32.11 mg/kg RE) contents. Our results suggest that strong antioxidant activities of persimmons correlate with high phenolic acid and catechin contents, particularly gallic acid and epicatechin gallate. Additionally, these two compounds may be key factors when considering the useful ingredients of persimmon.
Department of Monitoring and Analysis, NAKDONG River Basin Environmental Office, Ministry of Environment, Gyeongnam 641-722, Korea.
Jin Hwan
JH
Lee
Institute of Agriculture & Life Science, Gyeongsang National University, Gyeongnam 660-701, Korea.
Yong Bok
YB
Lee
Department of Functional Crop, National Institute of Crop Science (NICS), Rural Development Administration, Gyeongnam 627-803, Korea.
Woo Duck
WD
Seo
Cheongak-dong Samsundang Food Co., Gyeongnam 667-886, Korea.
Su Tae
ST
Kang
Department of Agricultural Produce & Trade, Hadong-Gun Agricultural Technology Center, Gyeongnam 770-701, Korea.
Jong Woo
JW
Lim
Department of Food Science, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, Gyeongnam 660-758, Korea.
Kye Man
KM
Cho
antioxidant activity; catechin; fruit juice; nutritional constituent; persimmon; phenolic acid