The influence of fruit ripening on the phytochemical content and biological activity of Capsicum chinense Jacq. cv Habanero

During the past decade, it has been reported that the consumption of certain foods and spices such aspepper may have a positive effect on health. The present study evaluates the influence of fruit ripeningon total phenols, flavonoids, carotenoids and capsaicinoids content and antioxidant, hypoglycaemic andanticholinesterase activities of Capsicum chinense Jacq. cv Habanero. The chemical investigation showed adifferent composition between the two stages of ripening (immature and mature). Generally, the concentrationof carotenoids and capsaicinoids increased as the peppers reached maturity, whereas the concentrationof phenols declined. The immature fruits showed the highest radical scavenging activity (IC50 of97.14 microg/ml). On the contrary, the antioxidant activity evaluated by the beta-carotene bleaching test showeda significant activity for mature peppers (IC50 value of 4.57 microg/ml after 30 min of incubation). Maturepeppers inhibited alpha-amylase with an IC50 of 130.67 microg/ml. The lipophilic fractions of both mature andimmature peppers exhibited an interesting and selective inhibitory activity against alpha-amylase withIC50 values of 29.58 and 9.88 microg/ml, respectively. Both total extracts of mature and immature peppersinhibited butyrylcholinesterase selectively. The obtained results underline the potential health benefitsas a result of consuming C. chinense Habanero and suggest that it could be used as new valuable flavourwith functional properties for food or nutriceutical products on the basis of the high content of phytochemicalsand found biological properties.