Screening of phytochemical content of commercial apricot- and orange-based beverages and its relationship with antioxidant capacity

The aim of the present research study was to compare the antioxidant properties of beverages based on apricot and orange fruits as well as to establish if the combination of these resulted in a beverage with high antioxidant content. For this purpose, the quantification of some antioxidants (total phenolic compounds (TP), ascorbic acid (AA) and proanthocianidins (PA)) using colorimetric assays and the determination of antioxidant activities of apricot- and orange-based beverages as well as their mixture were performed. The results revealed that the combination of apricot- and orange-based beverages had antagonistic effect on TP and AA content, unlike PA content. Moreover, these antioxidants correlated positively with total antioxidant capacity. The principal component analysis showed cumulative variance of approximately 85% which mean that the chosen parameters had a high discriminate power and they can be a useful criterion for the determination of quality of commercial beverages.