Bioaccessibility of Essential Elements in Açaı́ (euterpe Oleracea Mart.) Pulp

Acai consumption has been increasing due to the health benefits associated with the levels of essential elements and bioactive compounds, such as phenols and flavonoids. However, any nutritional information needs to go beyond that for total elemental levels, and elemental bioaccessibility data for this food should also be highlighted. In this study, the bioaccessibility of essential elements in two different genotypes of acai pulp (white and purple) was evaluated. The in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of acai pulp followed by elemental determination using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) was performed to evaluate the bioaccessibility of Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, P, and Zn. The total elemental concentrations for purple and white acai pulp were found to not be significantly different between the genotypes. Most of the elements studied showed high levels of bioaccessibility, with values greater than 70%, apart from Fe in purple acai, which had the lowest bioaccessibility level.