Nutritional and phytochemical composition of Annona cherimola Mill. fruits and by-products: Potential health benefits

• Four cultivars of Annona cherimola Mill. (PDO) fruit were selected and studied.
• First report on bioactive compounds content of cherimoya from Madeira Island.
• By-products of the analysed cultivars are good sources of bioactive compounds.
• Exploitation of these fruits with abundant bioactive compounds should be encouraged.

Annona cherimola Mill., commonly known as cherimoya, is a tropical fruit well known due to its tasty flavour. In the present study the antioxidant activity of pulp, peel and seeds of four cultivars from A. cherimola Mill. from Madeira Island (Madeira, Funchal, Perry Vidal and Mateus II) was analysed. Moreover, nutritional composition (proximates and vitamins) and bioactive compounds content were determined. The peel of Madeira cultivar showed the highest antioxidant capacity, with an EC50 of 0.97 mg/mL, and total flavonoids (44.7 epicatechin equivalents/100 g). The most abundant carotenoid was lutein, with values ranging from 129 to 232 μg/100 g. The highest l-ascorbic acid content (4.41 mg/100 g) was found in the peel of Perry Vidal cultivar. These results highlight A. cherimola Mill. antioxidant properties, especially in its by-products and encourage their application in cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food processing industries, as added value natural extracts.