Antioxidant properties of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) bagasses obtained as co-product in the juice extraction

The aim of this work was to determine the total phenol (TPC), the total flavonoid (TFC), the tannins contents (TC), organic acids and sugar contents and the antioxidant activity of pomegranate juice extraction bagasses, which were obtained in two different ways: (i) Direct extraction that involved arils and peel (WFB) and (ii) only from arils (AB). Four different test systems were used, namely the 2,2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging method, the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP); determination of antioxidant activity with thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) and the ferrous ion-chelating ability (FIC). WFB presented higher total phenolic, flavonoid and tannins contents (10.05 mg gallic acid equivalent/g sample; 7.19 mg rutin equivalent/g sample and 8.18 mg catechin/g sample) than AB. The organic acid detected were oxalic acid, citric acid, malic acid and succinic acid while the sugar identified were fructose and glucose. As regards antioxidant activity, at all concentrations and with all methods, the WFB samples showed a higher antioxidant activity than AB samples. BHT, used as control positive, present higher antioxidant activity than WFB and AB in all antioxidant methods used except in the FRAP assay.The results of this study indicate that pomegranate bagasse obtained as co-product in the process to obtain juice may be considered a good source of natural compounds with significant antioxidant activity which could be suitable for applications on the food industry as potential ingredient for food products.