Increase of Antioxidant Activity of Tomato Juice Upon Functionalisation with Vegetable Byproduct Extracts

Phenolic-enriched extracts from blanched artichoke (BA), artichoke blanching waters (ABW), cauliflower (CA), carrot (CR), celery (CE) and onion (ON) byproducts were used to ‘functionalise’ tomato juice. The antioxidant activity of functional tomato juice significantly increased over control juice according to a set of in vitro antioxidant assays (i.e. inhibition of lipid peroxidation determined by the ferric thiocyanate method and scavenging of both ABTS^•+ and DPPH^• free radicals). A trained sensory evaluation panel determined the maximal allowed byproduct extract concentration in the functionalisation of tomato juice without modifying its natural sensory properties (mg extract/mL tomato juice): 2.5, 5, 10, 10, 10 and 20 for CA, ON, BA, ABW, CE and CR, respectively. The maximum antioxidant activity (within consumers' acceptance limits and measured by the ABTS^•+ method) was increased 5.4-, 3.4-, 2.5-, 1.7-, 1.5- and 0.6-fold over the control when functional tomato juice was assayed after modification with ABW, BA, CR, ON, CE and CA, respectively. A serving of functional tomato juice (250 mL) containing vegetable extracts (within consumers' acceptance limits) provides an additional intake of phenolic compounds which can range from 22 mg (when functionalised with CA extract) to 300 mg (with BA extract). In the light of the above investigations, the use of vegetable byproducts could be useful for developing a functional tomato juice with potentially increased health-promoting properties.