Identification of the compound in a potent cranberry juice extract that inhibits lipid oxidation in comminuted muscle

An extract prepared from cranberry juice powder using a mixture of chloroform and methanol was particularly effective at inhibiting lipid oxidation in mechanically separated turkey (MST), providing more than 3 weeks of additional stability during −4 °C storage at a usage level of 0.1% (wet weight basis). The chloroform extract was fractionated by flash chromatography (FC) and analysed using reverse-phased high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) with UV/vis diode array detection to identify the component(s) present in the fractions. One of the five fractions obtained was effective in delaying the formation of lipid peroxides and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in MST, while the remaining fractions had little to no inhibitory action. Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis indicated the presence of two flavonols, quercetin and quercetin-3-O-(6″-benzoyl)-β-galactoside in the inhibitory fraction. This fraction (containing quercetin at 467 μmol/kg MST) inhibited lipid oxidation in MST similarly to pure quercetin added to MST at the same concentration. This indicated that quercetin accounted for all or nearly all of the inhibitory capacity in the chloroform extract.