DEVELOPMENT OF CONCENTRATED LEMON JUICE WITH NATURAL ANTIOXIDANT

The search for the development of increasingly natural and healthy products is growing. In this context, the study evaluated the addition of pollen as a natural antioxidant in concentrated lemon juice. Five formulations were prepared, which ranged from positive control (juice with synthetic antioxidant and ingredients), negative control (juice with ingredients). Physicochemical tests (pH, color, titratable acidity, total acidity, vitamin C, and soluble solids), antioxidant activity (DPPH, chelating ability, FRAP, total phenolics, and flavonoids), and centesimal composition of the samples were carried out. It was observed that juices with lower pollen concentrations showed antioxidant activities greater or equal to those with higher pollen concentrations, where the opposite would be expected. To verify the inversion of these values, total phenolics, and flavonoids analyses were carried out, initially only with pollen in distilled water, where values increased with the pollen 
concentration. Subsequently, the test was conducted using pollen and materials mixed with distilled water. However, the results were not consistent with the concentration of pollen added. The levels of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in juices were from 256.32 to 516.94 mgEAG/mL and from 39.94 to 194.54 mgEQ/mL, respectively. In the physicochemical analyses, the samples showed titratable acidity of 25-33%, vitamin C content of 0.17 to 0.24 mg/mL of ascorbic acid, soluble solids in the range of 2.40% to 3.70%, and pH around 2.60. In the centesimal composition, there was no significant difference between the samples. Thus, it can be concluded that the ingredients cause some antagonistic effect on the antioxidants of concentrated lemon juice with the increase of pollen concentration. However, pollen remains a potential substitute for the synthetic antioxidant in concentrated lemon juice.