Antioxidative Changes of Blueberry Leaf Extracts in Emulsion-Type Sausage during In Vitro Digestion

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of in vitro human digestion on the antioxidant activity of blueberry leaf extracts (BLE) in emulsion-type sausages (ETS). Leaves from four cultivars of blueberries (Bluecrop, Bluegold, Duke, and Northland) collected from a wild blueberry farm were extracted with 80% ethanol. ETS were prepared with 0.2% BLE. The samples were then passed through an in vitro human digestion system which simulates the composition of the mouth, stomach, and small intestine juice. Only one phenolic compound (chlorogenic acid) was detected in the BLE. Northland BLE had appreciably higher amounts of chlorogenic acid than that of other BLE, both before and after in vitro human digestion. Antioxidant activity of any BLE was not influenced by in vitro human digestion, whereas the antioxidant activity of chlorogenic acid standard increased in response to in vitro human digestion in both 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) and ferric-reducing ability of plasma (FRAP). In the present study, the antioxidant activities of the BLE were not strongly influenced by in vitro human digestion, and the antioxidant activity depended on the chlorogenic acid content of ETS. Thus, compounds from blueberry leaves may have important applications in the future as natural antioxidants for meat products.