Development a Soluble Antioxidant beverage of Tree Tomato (Solanum betacea) for Sportsmen

Athletes require specific hydration that contains antioxidants in addition to carbohydrates and electrolytes, because the tree tomato (Solanum betacea) is rich in antioxidants, the objective of the present study was the elaboration of a hydrating drink in tree tomato powder for athletes. The pulp was chemically and nutritionally characterized and then treated with an enzymatic cocktail to increase dissolved solids. To define the pulp spray drying conditions, the following variables were tested: feed flow (12 and 17 mL/min); drying temperature (130, 140, 150 and 180 °C); maltodextrin concentration (3, 7 and 9%) and the best drying condition was selected by sensory analysis. The fruit was processed and formulated of the hydrating drink powder, in which solubility, process effectiveness, sensory characteristics and polyphenol content were analyzed. The optimum drying conditions were drying temperature of 140 °C, feed flow of 12 ml/min, and addition of maltodextrin at 9%; tricalcium phosphate was added at 100 ppm to improve effectiveness. The dehydrated pulp contained a high content of β-carotenes, minerals, polyphenols and antioxidants. The product formulation contained 37.47% pulp providing 120 mg of polyphenols per-100 g of product. It was packed in a 40 g trilaminate to prepare 600 mL. Finally, the product stability study (16.7°C and 67- 80% relative humidity) for three months showed a shelf life of one year.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Not applicable

The datasets used in this study are openly available at [repository link] and the source code is available on GitHub at [GitHub link].

This work did not receive any external funding.