An Apple and Acáchul Berry Snack Rich in Bioaccessible Antioxidants and Folic Acid: A Healthy Alternative for Prenatal Diets

Abstract

A fruit leather (apple and acáchul berry) oriented toward women of reproductive agewas developed. The snack was supplemented with an ingredient composed of folic acid (FA) andwhey proteins (WPI) to ensure the required vitamin intake to prevent fetal neural tube defects.In order to generate a low-calorie snack, alternative sweeteners were used (stevia and maltitol).The fruit leather composition was determined. Also, an in vitro digestion process was carried outto evaluate the bioaccessibility of compounds with antioxidant capacity (AC), total polyphenols(TPCs), total monomeric anthocyanins (ACY), and FA. The quantification of FA was conducted by amicrobiological method and by HPLC. The leather contained carbohydrates (70%) and antioxidantcompounds, mainly from fruits. Bioaccessibility was high for AC (50%) and TPCs (90%), and low forACY (17%). Regarding FA, bioaccessibility was higher for WPI-FA (50%) than for FA alone (37%),suggesting that WPI effectively protected the vitamin from processing and digestion. Furthermore,the product was shown to be non-cytotoxic in a Caco-2 cell model. The developed snack is aninteresting option due to its low energy intake, no added sugar, and high content of bioactivecompounds. Also, the supplementation with WPI-FA improved the conservation and bioaccessibilityof FA.