presents the AA/DHA ratios for unpasteurized and pasteurized samples. As can be seen, after pasteurization, the AA/
DHA ratio changed; experiments conducted with lower voltages achieved AA/DHA ratios closer to those of the non-pasteurized samples than those conducted with higher voltages. The first oxidation reaction (conversion of AA to DHA) probably happened faster than the subsequent reaction, which converts DHA into DCG,
a compound that has no biological activity. This result indicates that, during heat treatment, more AAwas oxidized to DHA than DHA was oxidized to DCG. As the compound DHA does exhibit biological activity, the total vitamin C degradation was lower than the ascorbic acid degradation. However, it is noteworthy that only AA has antioxidant activity and DHA is a pro-oxidant compound that can be easily converted into AA in the human body