Purple maize arabinoxylan could protect antioxidant compounds during digestion

Abstract

Purple maize is a pigmented variety rich in antioxidants. Arabinoxylans (AX) are prebioticcompounds also found in the grain wall that can form gels. Recently, antioxidants have extensivelybeen studied for their beneficial effects. However, these bioactive compounds do not easily reachthe intestine in a stable form. These gels can protect certain compounds during in vitro digestion.This work aimed to extract the AX and simultaneously obtain the antioxidant compounds presentin the external walls of the purple maize grain to produce gels with 2% and 4% AX to apply anin vitro digestion method. Popcorn maize (unpigmented) was used as a control. The amount offerulic acid, polyphenols, and anthocyanins, and their antioxidative activity, were measured at invitro digestion of the gels. This work highlights the ability of AX gels to enhance the potentialbioavailability of antioxidant compounds including anthocyanins from purple maize after digestion.