Ht. Godoy et Dbr. Amaya, CAROTENOID COMPOSITION AND VITAMIN-A VALUE OF BRAZILIAN LOQUAT (ERIOBOTRYA-JAPONICA LINDL), Archivos latinoamericanos de nutricion, 45(4), 1995, pp. 336-339
Six sample lots of loquat commercialized in Campinas, Brazil were anal
yzed for their carotenoid composition beta-carotene (7.8 mu g/g), zeta
-carotene (0.1 mu g/g), neurosporene (1.1 mu g/g), beta-cryptoxanthin
(4.8 mu g/g), 5,6-monoepoxy-beta-cryptoxanthin (0.6 mu g/g), violaxant
hin (1.6 mu g/g), neoxanthin (0.8 mu g/g) and auroxanthin (0.9 mu g/g)
were identified beta-Carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin were the princip
al pigments, being responsible for 44% and 27%, respectively, of the t
otal carotenoid content (17.6 mu g/g). Both were also the principal co
ntributors to the vitamin A value of 175 RE/100g. The carotenoid compo
sition of the Brazilian loquat resembles that of the Japanese loquat v
ariety Tanaka.