Impact of processing of red beet on betalain content and antioxidant activity

Red beet has high concentration betalains that are used as food colorants and food additives due to their health promoting properties. Redbeet is generally processed before consumption which influences the stability of betalains in turn which affects the acceptability and health properties. The objective of the study was to investigate the influence of processing techniques as microwaving, boiling, roasting and vacuuming on the red beet. The impact of processing was evaluated on the basis of belatains content and antioxidant activity of the processed samples. With spectrophotometric results betalains content were found to add up to 20% with vacuum treatment and also with microwave treatment of 900 W and 1800 W for 30 s up to7% and 19% respectively, however there was decrease in boiling and roasting treatments. With HPLC analyses the content of betanin seems to increase in microwave treatments with 450 W and 900 W but reduced with 1800 W. In the case of antioxidant activity there was 2 to 3 fold increase in boiling, roasting and microwave treatments as compared to the control.

► Red beet has high concentration betalains that are used as food additives. ► Betalains content were found to enhance during processing with vacuum and with certain microwave treatments. ► Antioxidant activity was also increased with boiling, roasting and microwave treatments. ► Different processing methods has impact on betalain content and antioxidant activity of red beet.