LOSS AND OR FORMATION OF ANTIOXIDANTS DURING FOOD-PROCESSING AND STORAGE/

It is well known that natural antioxidants contained in foods are sign ificantly lost during processing. Nevertheless it was recently demonst rated that thermal treatments can induce the formation of compounds wi th new antioxidant properties. This is the case of the Maillard reacti on products (MRPs) whose presence as well as their potential effects h ave been scarcely investigated, In the present work the loss of natura l antioxidants in relation to processing and the formation of MRPs wit h antioxidant activity were studied in different food systems such as tomato derivatives and coffee. Results showed that, although the conce ntration of natural antioxidants was significantly reduced as a conseq uence of the thermal treatments, the overall antioxidant properties of the food products were maintained or even enhanced by the development of MRPs. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.