Valorization of black chokeberry waste as a potential source of bioactive compounds: Their identification, microencapsulation and impact on the human gut microbiota

Abstract

Epidemiological studies have suggested that adopting a diet rich in fruits and vegetables has been associated with a reduced risk of noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, type II diabetes and cancer. The presence of bioactive substances such as polyphenols has been linked to these potentially health promoting benefits. Polyphenols are secondary metabolites that determine the sensory and nutritional qualities of fruits and vegetables. However, polyphenols are processed as xenobiotics by the human body after consumption, hence the bioavailability of native substances is rather low. Only 5-10% of total dietary polyphenols, mostly those with monomeric and dimeric structures, are estimated to be directly absorbed in the small intestine. The remaining polyphenols pass to the colon, where they are further metabolized by the enzymatic activity of colonic bacteria to molecules with varied physiological significance. These phenolic compounds generated by the microbial catabolism are more absorbable than the original molecules present in foods and may have higher health benefits. In addition to this, dietary polyphenols reaching to the colon can act as prebiotics and they may modulate the gut microbiota by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria and/or hindering the proliferation of harmful bacteria. Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) is one of the richest sources of phenolic compounds, especially anthocyanins, among the other berry types. In addition to the anthocyanins, they are a rich source of proanthocyanidins with a high degree of polymerisation. However, despite their health beneficial properties, they are seldomly ingested as fresh due to their distinct astringent flavor, which is perceived as undesirable by the consumers. For this reason, they are processed into juices, jams, etc. Juice processing generates by-products, such as pulp, that might be used in the production of natural colorant and the isolation of the natural nutraceuticals. Although anthocyanins possess potential health-promoting properties and are regarded as promising natural food colorants, unfortunately their unstable nature acts as an obstacle in their practical applications due to their poor bioavailability and susceptibility against environmental factors such as temperature, light, oxygen, pH change, etc. Therefore, encapsulation of these substances might be a suitable method to increase concentrations of bioactive anthocyanins in the gastrointestinal tract and thus boost their beneficial effects. In this useful system, anthocyanins are protected from degradation and prevented from premature color development. Taking all the above-mentioned information into account, this thesis was organized to (i) characterize the polyphenol content of the black chokeberry pulp, (ii) determine the most effective conditions and materials for the encapsulation of the anthocyanin-rich extract obtained from black chokeberry pulp, (iii) determine the effect of black chokeberry polyphenols in different matrices on the human gut microbiota under in vitro conditions. For this purpose, firstly the state of the art on the polyphenol bioaccessibility, bioavailability, interaction with the gut microbiota and analysis through omics approach was comprehensively reviewed and discussed in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3 the extract obtained from the black chokeberry pulp was characterised by both spectrophotometric methods and chromatographic methods. Total polyphenol and total anthocyanin contents of the extract were determined by Folin-Ciocalteu and pH differential methods, respectively. Also, the individual polyphenol composition of the extract was identified by using UPLC-ESI-QqQ-MS/MS method. Dry matter content of pulp was 35.6±0.2%, brix value of the extract was 20% and total anthocyanin content and total phenolic content of extract were determined as 4.91±0.297 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside/mL, 11.5±0.14 mg gallic acid equivalent/mL, respectively. According to LC-MS/MS analysis, ~72% of the total quantified polyphenols consisted of anthocyanins. It is widely known that black chokeberries contain four major anthocyanins, namely cyanidin-3-O-galactoside, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, cyanidin-3-O-arabinoside, and cyanidin-3-O-xyloside. In this study, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside was identified and quantified. However, apart from the major anthocyanins some other anthocyanins were also detected (cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside, cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside, and pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside). In fact, to the best of our knowledge pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside was identified in black chokeberries for the first time. After characterizing the extract, the second goal of this study was to encapsulate the black chokeberry extract with different coating materials by using spray drying technique which was also detailed in Chapter 3. Among the encapsulation techniques, the spray drying method has been largely utilized for drying heat-labile nutraceuticals since it is precise, efficient, simple and cost-efficient in the processes. The selection of coating material to entrap the active material by spray drying is crucial to achieve an efficient encapsulation. Therefore, five different coating materials have been tested for the microencapsulation of black chokeberry extract (maltodextrin with dextrose equivalent of 6, maltodextrin with dextrose equivalent of 20, its blends with gum Arabic, xanthan gum or whey protein isolate). Spray drying conditions were chosen as follows: inlet temperature of 150 °C, the outlet temperature of 90 °C, 4.5 mL/min feed flow rate, 0.357 m3/h air flow rate, and an aspirator capacity of 100%. For the determination of the most effective system, physicochemical characteristics of the powders such as moisture content, particle size, capsule morphology, color, spray drying yield, encapsulation efficiency, total anthocyanin content, total and individual phenolic content, and total antioxidant activity were investigated. Within the five different wall materials, maltodextrin:gum Arabic provided the maximum encapsulation efficiency (71.5%) while MD6 resulted in the lowest encapsulation efficiency (38.3%). The spray-dried powders presented low moisture content in an acceptable range from 2.57 to 3.27%. Also, spray drying yield varied between 51.4 to 78.1%. The addition of gums or protein significantly enhanced both total phenolic content and total antioxidant capacity. The highest increase in total phenolic content was observed when gum Arabic was used along with maltodextrin as a coating material. Although significantly different results were obtained for most of the parameters tested for each wall material, all of them resulted in successful microencapsulation of black chokeberry pomace extract. However, within the tested wall materials, the maltodextrin:gum Arabic combination had better results compared to the other wall materials. For this reason, the next step of the study was continued with the spray-dried powders obtained by using maltodextrin: gum Arabic as a wall material. The effect of black chokeberry phenolics on the human gut microbiota in a sophisticated, computer-controlled dynamic colonic fermentation model (TIM-2) was investigated in Chapter 4. For this purpose, black chokeberry pomace as juice processing by-product, anthocyanin rich extract from black chokeberry pomace, and microencapsulated extract in maltodextrin-gum Arabic system were examined in terms of the changes in microbial composition, short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) and branched-chain fatty acid (BCFA) contents. Stool samples were collected from 5 healthy donors to prepare a standardized microbiota cocktail. The experiments in TIM-2 were last for 40h where the first 16h was adaptation period of the human fecal microbiota and the last 24h was the test period. Samples were collected from lumen and dial compartments at time 0h and 24h. Genomic DNA from the luminal samples was extracted and sequencing by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the 16S rRNA gene V3-V4 region was carried out by using Illumina MiSeq and BCL2FASTQ pipeline. The QIIME2 (Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology) software package was employed for taking sequencing data from raw sequences to interpretation for the microbiota analyses. The statistical analyses were done in RStudio. The abundances of microbial species in the total microbial community were calculated and shown as relative abundance (RA). According to the results, the fermentation of black chokeberry polyphenols in the in vitro colon model (TIM-2) resulted in shifts in the standardized microbiota and differentiation in the extent of the production of SCFA and BCFAs. Synergy between maltodextrin+gum Arabic+polyphenols resulted in an increase in the relative abundances of some health-promoting taxa (Anaerostipes, Blautia, Christensenellaceae R7 group, Prevotella 9) and decrease in the disease related taxa Alistipes. Encapsulation increased the SCFA production and decreased the BCFA production in the lumen. Nevertheless, none of the metabolites could be correlated with the identified operational taxonomic units. In the final chapter (Chapter 5), overall evaluation of the results obtained throughout this study, conclusions, and recommendations for the future research were presented. The main outcomes of this study revealed that pulp obtained from Turkish black chokeberries has a unique polyphenol profile with bioactive properties. The successful microencapsulation of polyphenols extracted from black chokeberry pulp can be used as a value-added natural colorant in powder form with bioactive properties in food, pharmaceutics or cosmetic product formulations. Also, clack chokeberry polyphenols present in the extract, pulp or encapsulate have the potential to be used for establishing a healthier gut as it caused a shift in the gut microbial composition and SCFA levels in a good way.