Prebiotic green tea beverage added inclusion complexes of catechin and β-cyclodextrin: Physicochemical characteristics during storage

- Physical mixture inclusion complex presented better performance in green tea.
- The supercritical carbon dioxide had no protection of the phenolic compounds.
- Tea can be a carrier of prebiotic compound (oligofructose).
- Physical mixture complex increased stability of the phenolic compounds.
- A low cost methodology was proposed to protect phenolic compounds in tea.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the addition of β-cyclodextrin, catechin or inclusion complexes (catechin: β-CD) (physical mixture or with supercritical carbon dioxide) on prebiotic green tea beverage characteristics during storage at ambient temperature (90 days/25 °C). The prebiotic (oligofructose) stability was also evaluated. The addition of cyclodextrin and/orcatechin resulted in products with higher acidity. The physical process of complexation, which is simple and cheap, gave the best results in relation to the stability of the phenolic compounds content in the product. The supercritical carbon dioxide did not improve the protection of the phenolic compounds. A portion of 200 mL of the green tea had sufficient oligofructose content to be considered a prebiotic product during 90 days of storage. It was possible to formulate green tea beverages with high total phenolic compounds (2525-3307 mg CE/L) and oligofructose content (3.1 g/200 mL) sufficient to consider them prebiotic products, being recommended the physical process of complexation (catechin: β-CD). The green teas would maintain the beneficial effects for 90 days at ambient temperature (25 °C).