The values of H-TAA and LTAA
show that the major contributors to antioxidant
activity are hydrophilic compounds according to previous
reports in other sweet cherry cultivars (Díaz-Mula et al.
2009a; Serrano et al. 2009). From these results, it can be
inferred that bioactive compounds and TAA increase during
the ripening process, similar to that which occurred during
on-tree maturation, although, when storage period is
prolonged, over-ripe and senescence processes took place
and, in turn, a decrease in both total phenolics and TAA
occurred, as has been observed in control fruits after
12 days of storage. On the contrary, coated cherries showed
an increase of these parameters during the overall storage
period as consequence of the delayed ripening process by
the application of alginate coating. Since the ingestion of
fruits and vegetables with higher amounts of phenolics has
antioxidant activity “in vivo” by increasing the plasmatic
antioxidants (Fernández-Panchón et al. 2008), the use of
alginate as edible coating led to fruits with higher
proportion of functional properties than control ones.
However, no data exist on the bioavailability and bioconversion
of phenolic compounds after the intake of sweet
cherry, and thus, more research is needed about this issue.