A comparison of major taste- and health-related compounds of Vaccinium berries

Abstract

The chemical fruit composition, phenolic profile, and corresponding total antioxidant activity of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) and 2 commercial blueberry cultivars (Vaccinium corymbosum) were analyzed. Results from this study showed that cultivar Berkeley yielded the highest glucose and fructose contents (70.8 and 88.8 mg/g FW, respectively), and the sweetness index expressed a similar trend, achieving the highest value for cultivar Berkeley (279.2). Citric acid was the major organic acid in the berries tested. V. myrtillus yielded a total organic acids value 2-fold higher (0.35 mg/g FW) as well as the highest vitamin C content (25.8 mg/100 g FW). Among the flavonols measured, myricetin was most abundant in V. myrtillus (10.7 \mug/g FW), whereas the highest amounts of kaempferol and quercetin were detected in the blueberry cultivar Bluecrop (4.75 and 9.11 \mug/g FW, respectively). Despite the challenge of characterizing phenolic acids due to the complexity and natural variation in fruit composition, this study confirms that cultivars of V. corymbosum are rich sources of chlorogenic acid, particularly cultivar Bluecrop (71.2 \mug/g FW). Nevertheless, total phenolics were higher in V. myrtillus than in the cultivated blueberries, and consequently the highest level of total antioxidant capacity was recorded in wild bilberry (6.16 mg asc/g FW). This semicomprehensive study characterizes the fruit quality attributes and illustrates differences in the content of taste- and health-related compounds present in these Vaccinium berries.