Chemical composition, color, and antioxidant activity of three varieties of Annona diversifolia Safford fruits

Annona diversifolia is a Central America native fruit which has become an important crop because of its tasty flavor, high pulp content, nutritional value and antioxidant properties. Color, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, ash, minerals, pH, titratable acidity, and carbohydrate contents were determinated in white, pink and deep pink varieties of A. diversifolia. Our results show that the three studied varieties of A. diversifolia could be considered as important sources of fiber, sugars, potassium and zinc. Color measuring was successfully used to objectively characterize the three A. diversifolia varieties, resulting in an excellent agreement with visual observations. The antioxidant activity also was determined and compared. An in vitro study was conducted in terms of vitamin C, total phenols, total flavonoids, and radical scavenging activity. A strong correlation between total polyphenols and radical scavenging activity was observed. This paper reports for the first time the total flavonoid content of Annona genus fruits. In addition, A. diversifolia extracts possessed greater radical scavenging activity and similar total polyphenol content compared to those of other Annona species reported elsewhere.