Bioaccessibility of polyphenols and cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon beverages subjected to in vitro gastro-pancreatic digestion

The present study was undertaken to investigate the in vitro bioaccessibility of polyphenols and cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon beverage and formulations during simulated gastro-pancreatic digestion. Cinnamon polyphenols post-pancreatic bioaccessibility was 79.9%. The decline in total polyphenols was caused by the precipitation of tannins by pepsin. The addition of sweeteners (sucrose and honey) increased the polyphenols bioaccessibility decreasing the interaction between pepsin and tannins. The addition of bovine milk had no effect on polyphenols post-pancreatic bioaccessibility. Kaempferol and cinnamaldehyde showed high bioaccessibility unlike syringic and coumaric acids and quercetin-3-rhamnoside. The addition of sweeteners did not affect the bioaccessibility of these compounds. The bioaccessibility was affected by milk only for cinnamaldehyde. The present study demonstrates that cinnamon beverage provides a significant source of dietary bioaccessible polyphenols and cinnamaldehyde and that the modality of consuming cinnamon could represent an important factor since the addition of sweeteners improve their bioaccessibility whereas milk addition proteolysis increases the antioxidant activity.