Influence of orange cultivar and mandarin postharvest storage on polyphenols, ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity during gastrointestinal digestion

- Pulps had higher HES, NAR, TF and TP contents and antioxidant activity than juices.
- Postharvest storage of mandarin increased NAR, TP, AA and AAC.
- Higher bioaccessibility of HES, NAR, TF, AA and AAC can be found in pulps vs. juices.
- Postharvest storage of mandarins increased bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds.
- Citrus bioactive compounds' bioaccessibility would allow more accurate RDA values.

Polyphenols, ascorbic acid content and antioxidant activity of two sweet oranges (Navel-N and Cara Cara-CC) and mandarin (Clementine-M) as well as their bioaccessibilities were evaluated in pulps and compared to those in fresh juice. Thus, pulps of oranges and mandarins displayed higher hesperidin (HES), narirutin (NAR), total flavonoids (TF), total phenols (TP) and antioxidant activity (AAC) than their corresponding juices. Also, CC products presented higher bioactive compounds content than N ones. Bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds and AAC were higher in pulps of both oranges and mandarin than in their corresponding juices. Oranges (N and CC) pulps and juices presented higher bioaccessibilities than mandarin ones.The postharvest storage of mandarin at 12 °C during 5 weeks not only produced a significant increase of the bioactive compounds but also an increase of their bioaccessibility. The bioaccessibility of Citrus bioactive compounds is necessary for calculating more accurately their daily intake amount.