Structural and chromatic stability of purple pitaya (Hylocereus

polyrhizus [Weber] Britton & Rose) betacyanins as aected by the

juice matrix and selected additives
Kirsten M. Herbach, Michael Rohe, Florian C. Stintzing
*
, Reinhold Carle
Institute of Food Technology, Hohenheim University, Section Plant Foodstu Technology, August-von-Hartmann Strasse 3, Stuttgart 70599, Germany
Received 12 January 2006; accepted 17 January 2006
Dedicated to Dr. Gerhard Meyer, Reinheim, on the occasion of his 70th birthday.
Abstract
Ascorbic, isoascorbic, and citric acids were applied for stabilisation of betacyanins during thermal treatment of purple pitaya juice at
pH 4 and 6, respectively. In addition, to exclude matrix eects of juice constituents, selected food ingredients were added to a pigment
preparation comprising the entire betacyanin pattern of purple pitaya, but being devoid of sugars, acids and pectic substances. After
thermal treatment at pH 4, pigment retention, overall colour changes, betanin isomerisation, and phyllocactin deacylation were deter-
mined. As supported by statistical analyses, pigment stability and colour depended on type and concentration of the respective additive
as well as on the pH conditions. Unexpectedly, the stabilising eects of the additives under investigation were more pronounced in purple
pitaya juice than in the pigment preparation. After heating at 85 C for 1 h, optimal pigment retention amounting to 91% was obtained in
the juice supplemented with 1% ascorbic acid and adjusted to pH 4. For the rst time, formation of indicaxanthin and isoindicaxanthin
upon thermal treatment of purple pitaya juice is reported.
2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Betacyanins; Purple pitaya; Hylocereus polyrhizus; Stability; Thermal degradation; Additive; Ascorbic acid; Isoascorbic acid; Citric acid;
Indicaxanthin formation
1. Introduction
Natural colouring of food with fruit or vegetable prepa-
rations is an increasing demand of health-conscious con-
sumers. Nevertheless, these pigments are aicted with a
higher instability compared to their synthetic counterparts,
hampering their application in foods undergoing thermal
treatment (Cevallos-Casals & Cisneros-Zevallos, 2004).
Therefore, stability improvement by employment of suit-
able additives may expand the applicability of natural food
colourants.
Betalains, one of the four plant pigment classes commer-
cially used for food colouring, are generally considered
heat-labile (Jackman & Smith, 1996). Hence, previous
studies aimed at the application of food additives, espe-
cially organic acids, for betalain stabilisation during ther-
mal treatment. However, the results obtained were in
part contradictory. Stability of betanin, the major betalain
of red beet, was reported to be impaired by ascorbic acid
due to bleaching eects caused by hydrogen peroxide for-
mation during ascorbic acid degradation (Savolainen &
Kuusi, 1978). Additionally, reduced half-life time of beta-
nin in the presence of 1000 ppm ascorbic acid was observed
(Pasch & von Elbe, 1979). In contrast, several ndings on
betalain stability improvement by ascorbic acid were
reported. Ascorbic acid concentrations of 0.003% (Marias-
syova & S

ilhar, 2000), 0.1% (Barrera, Reynoso, & Gonza-

les de Mej a, 1998; Bilyk & Howard, 1982), 0.2% (Attoe &
von Elbe, 1985), and 40 mmol/L (about 0.7%; Han, Kim,
0963-9969/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2006.01.004
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 711 459 2318; fax: +49 711 459 4110.
E-mail address: stintzin@uni-hohenheim.de (F.C. Stintzing).
www.elsevier.com/locate/foodres
Food Research International 39 (2006) 667677
Kim, & Kim, 1998), respectively, were found to enhance
betalain stability, while Attoe and von Elbe (1985) reported
a reduction of headspace oxygen by 87% when adding
11 mmol/L (about 0.2%) ascorbic acid. The stabilising
eects of ascorbic and isoascorbic acid were ascribed to
oxygen removal, since oxygen was shown to accelerate
betanin degradation (Attoe & von Elbe, 1982).
Several authors reported further enhancement of beta-
nin stability by employing isoascorbic instead of ascorbic
acid (Attoe & von Elbe, 1985; Barrera et al., 1998; Bilyk
& Howard, 1982), which could be due to superior oxygen
conversion by isoascorbic acid exhibiting a higher redox
potential (Attoe & von Elbe, 1985). Furthermore,
improved betanin stability was ascribed to sequestering
eects of citric acid, partially neutralising the electrophilic
center of betanin by associating around the positively
charged quaternary amino nitrogen (Pasch & von Elbe,
1979). After the addition of citric acid, betanin degradation
in thermally treated samples was observed to be reduced by
50% (Han et al., 1998). Moreover, the addition of 1% citric
acid was reported to increase betanin half-life by approxi-
mately 1.5 times (Pasch & von Elbe, 1979).
In the present study, betacyanins from purple pitaya
(Hylocereus polyrhizus [Weber] Britton & Rose) juice,
which has recently attracted interest as a potential alterna-
tive for red beet, were investigated. Purple pitaya exhibits a
pigment spectrum consisting of non-acylated (e.g.,
betanin = betanidin 5-O-b-glucoside; Fig. 1A) as well as
acylated betacyanins (e.g., phyllocactin = betanidin 5-O-
b-malonyl-glucoside; Fig. 1B; Stintzing, Schieber, & Carle,
2002a; Wybraniec et al., 2001). Additionally, the fruits
were reported to be devoid of betaxanthins (Stintzing
et al., 2002a), thus oering high colour purity of juices
without prior betaxanthin removal. Since the juice matrix
(e.g., sugars, organic acids, amino acids, pectic substances)
has recently been found to favour specic betacyanin deg-
radation trails (Herbach, Stintzing, & Carle, 2006), betacy-
anin stability of a puried solution devoid of matrix
constituents, but comprising the entire betacyanin pattern
of purple pitaya juice, was also investigated.
It was the aim of the present work to assess the impact
of the pH value on betacyanin stability in purple pitaya
juices supplemented with ascorbic, isoascorbic, and citric
acids at two dierent concentrations covering the range
reported in literature (0.1% and 1.0%) and at pH values 4
and 6, respectively. Betacyanin stabilisation by supplemen-
tation prior to heating was preferred in this study, because
it was found to be superior to addition after heat exposure
(Bilyk & Howard, 1982; Han et al., 1998). While purple
pitaya juice was reported to contain nearly 600 mg/L citric
H O
O
C
HO
O
C
O
-
O
C
2
17
H O
H
H
C
' 6
' 1
O H
O H
O
H
15
5
O
O H
+
H
N
N
O H
H
H O
O
C
O H
O
C
O
-
O
C
2
17
H O
O
H
H
C
' 6
' 1
O H
O H
O
H
15
5
O
O H
+
H
N
N
C
O
H C C O O H
2
H
A B
C D
H
N
H
C
O
O H
C
O
H O
1 1
N
H
C
O
O
-
+
H
N
H
C
O
HO
C
O
H O
1 1
N
H
C
O
O
-
+
Fig. 1. Structures of betanin (A), phyllocactin (B), indicaxanthin (C), and isoindicaxanthin (D).
668 K.M. Herbach et al. / Food Research International 39 (2006) 667677
acid, it was found to be devoid of ascorbic acid (Stintzing,
Schieber, & Carle, 2003). Hence, the addition of ascorbic
acid appeared particularly promising. To evaluate the con-
tribution of matrix constituents to betacyanin stability,
matrix-free pigment preparations were examined at pH 4.
Betacyanin retention and colour characteristics after ther-
mal treatment were determined by spectrophotometric
analyses, and the pigment pattern was monitored by
HPLC-DAD. As betacyanin regeneration from their cleav-
age products was reported to be completed after 24 h of
cool storage following heat treatment (Herbach, Stintzing,
& Carle, 2004a), analyses were repeated after this period.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Plant material
Fresh Hylocereus polyrhizus (Weber) Britton & Rose
fruits were purchased from Israel. The fruits were cut in
halves and the peels were removed manually. Subsequently,
the fruit pulp was strained through a 0.4 mm sieve of a n-
isher (Bertuzzi Food Technology, Brugherio, Italy) at a
rotational speed of 400 rpm. The strained pulp was centri-
fuged at 9750 rpm for 20 min, and the supernatant juice
(overall juice yield: 35%) was ushed with nitrogen and
stored at 30 C until use.
2.2. Solvents and reagents
Isoascorbic acid was obtained from Pzer (Darmstadt,
Germany). The remaining solvents and reagents used were
from VWR (Darmstadt, Germany), all being of analytical
or HPLC grade. Amberlite XAD-16HP was purchased
from Rohm & Haas (Darmstadt, Germany). Deionised
water was used throughout.
2.3. Purication of purple pitaya juice
For precipitation of pectic substances, two parts of eth-
anol (96%, v/v) were added to one part of the juice. After
15 min the precipitate was removed and the juice was paper
ltered (Schleicher & Schuell, Dassel, Gemany). Ethanol
was evaporated in vacuo at 26 C and the juice was concen-
trated to a fourth of the initial volume. Separation of sug-
ars, amino acids and salts was carried out applying a
purication procedure developed by Stintzing, Schieber,
and Carle (2002b): A glass column (870 45 mm i.d.) lled
with Amberlite XAD-16HP slurry was conditioned with
3 L of acidied water (pH 3, TFA). Concentrate aliquots
equivalent to 50 mL single strength juice were applied to
the resin and subsequently desalted by rinsing with 20 L
of acidied water (pH 3, TFA). Betalains were eluted in
one step with acidied methanol [95/5, methanol/acidied
water (pH 2, TFA), v/v] and immediately adjusted to pH
56 by addition of NH
4
OH (12%, v/v). After concentration
in vacuo to reconstitute single strength juice volume, the
pH value was re-adjusted. To exclude concentration eects
on pigment stability, betacyanin concentration of the pig-
ment preparation was diluted to 426.7 19.5 mg/L by
addition of deionised water, corresponding to purple
pitaya juice (379.1 16.6 mg/L). As determined by
HPLC-DAD analysis (see Section 2.6), the ratio of acyl-
ated and non-acylated betacyanins was not aected by
the purication process.
2.4. Thermal treatment and regeneration
Purple pitaya juices and pigment preparations supple-
mented with solid ascorbic, isoascorbic, or citric acids at
a concentration of 0.1% and 1.0%, respectively, were sub-
jected to thermal treatment. To exclude pH eects on beta-
cyanin stability, the pH value of the pigment preparations
was adjusted to pH 4 with HCl (1 mol/L) and NaOH
(2 mol/L) after addition of the supplements, while purple
pitaya juices were adjusted to pH 4 and pH 6, respectively.
Aliquots of 50 mL were lled in an Erlenmeyer ask, which
was equipped with a magnetic stirrer, closed with a rubber
stopper and heated at 85 C for 1 h under continuous stir-
ring (Herbach et al., 2004a). Subsequently, samples were
instantly cooled in an ice bath. An aliquot was taken for
immediate spectrophotometric analysis (see Section 2.5),
while the remainder was lled in a test tube sealed with a
screw cap and stored at 10 C for 24 h. After cool storage,
spectrophotometric measurements were repeated and an
aliquot ltered (0.45 lm) and stored in a vial at 20 C
until HPLC analyses (see Section 2.6). All determinations
were performed in duplicate.
2.5. Spectrophotometric analyses
Spectrophotometric measurements were performed with
a UVVis spectrometer (Perkin-Elmer, U

berlingen, Ger-
many) equipped with a UVVis (UVWinLab V 2.85.04)
and a colour (Wincol V 2.05) software (PerkinElmer
Instruments, Norwalk, CT, USA).
Dilutions with McIlvaine buer (pH 6.5) to 1.00 0.05
at the maximum absorption of the unheated purple pitaya
juice and pigment preparation, respectively, were main-
tained for all samples after heating and regeneration. Sub-
sequently, visible spectra (380780 nm) were recorded in
1 cm pathlength disposable cuvettes, and chroma
[C
*
= (a
*
2
+ b
*
2
)
1/2
] and hue angle [h = arctan(b
*
/a
*
)]
were calculated from CIE a
*
- and b
*
-values using illumi-
nant D
65
and 10 observer angle (Herbach et al., 2004a).
All determinations were performed in triplicate.
Betanin equivalents (Bc) were assessed applying the
equation Bc [mg/L] = [(A
*
F
*
MW
*
1000/e
*
l)] where A is
the absorption value at the absorption maximum corrected
by the absorption at 600 nm, F the dilution factor, MW the
molecular weight of betanin (MW = 550 g/mol), e the
molar extinction coecient of betanin (e = 60,000 L/
mol
*
cm), and l the pathlength of the cuvette (Herbach
et al., 2004a). All determinations were performed in
triplicate.
K.M. Herbach et al. / Food Research International 39 (2006) 667677 669
2.6. HPLC-DAD analyses
A Merck Hitachi LaChrom Elite HPLC system (Merck,
Darmstadt, Germany) was applied for HPLC analyses,
consisting of a pump L-2130, an autosampler L-2200, a Jet-
Stream column oven and a diode array detector L-2450.
Separation was achieved using an analytical scale Atlantis
dC
18
-column (250 4.6 mm i.d.) with a particle size of
5 lm (Waters, Wexford, Ireland) tted with a C
18
ODS
security guard column (4 3.0 mm i.d.; Phenomenex, Tor-
rance, CA, USA) thermostatted at 30 C. At a ow rate of
1 mL/min, the mobile phase A consisted of 0.2% (v/v) for-
mic acid in water, while MeCN was used as B. Starting
from 0% B isocratic for 4 min, linear gradients from 0%
B to 7% B in 3 min and 7% B to 10% B in 17 min were
applied. After isocratic elution at 10% B for 8 min, linear
gradients from 10% B to 15% B in 15 min, from 15% B
to 17% B in 5 min, and from 17% B to 100% B in 8 min,
respectively, were followed (Herbach et al., 2006). Simulta-
neous monitoring was performed at 535 nm (betacyanins)
and 470 nm (indicaxanthin and isoindicaxanthin). The
injection volume was 25 lL for all samples.
2.7. Statistical analyses
Statistical analyses were conducted using the Tukey test
(SAS 9.1 software, SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA).
3. Results and discussion
For determination of betacyanin stability and the eect
of the additives applied at dierent concentrations, both
overall betacyanin retention and the resulting colour qual-
ity were assessed. Additionally, the impact on the major
betacyanins was evaluated.
3.1. Betacyanin retention of thermally treated purple pitaya
juices and pigment preparations
3.1.1. Samples without additives
Pigment retention after thermal treatment as compared
to unheated purple pitaya juices and pigment solutions is
shown in Table 1. Samples heated without additives suered
from a considerable decrease in betacyanin content upon
thermal treatment. Interestingly, pigment retention imme-
diately after heating without additives was nearly identical
for the pigment preparation and the juice sample heated
at pH 4. Hence, no stabilising eect of matrix constituents
was found. In contrast, betacyanins isolated from red beet
were reported to be less stable compared to pigments in
the red beet juice matrix (Bilyk & Howard, 1982). After
24 h of cool storage (CS), the pigment preparation exhibited
higher colour retention than directly after heating, thus
indicating betacyanin regeneration, as previously described
to proceed in betanin solutions (Huang & von Elbe, 1985)
as well as red beet (von Elbe, Schwartz, & Hildenbrand,
1981) and purple pitaya juice (Herbach et al., 2004a),
respectively. It is worth mentioning that betacyanin recon-
densation in the juice sample heated without additives at
pH 4 was less pronounced or even did not occur at all.
In contrast to juice at pH 4, samples heated at pH 6
exhibited considerably lower betacyanin retention directly
after heating, i.e. betacyanin degradation was more pro-
nounced at elevated pH. Conversely, during CS, pigment
regeneration at pH 6 was extremely high, resulting in an
overcompensation of stronger pigment decomposition
upon heating. These ndings agree with earlier observa-
tions showing enhanced betacyanin regeneration after ther-
mal treatment at pH 6 as compared to pH 4 (Czapski,
1990).
3.1.2. Samples with additives
Addition of ascorbic, isoascorbic, or citric acids, respec-
tively, to juices and pigment preparations positively
aected betacyanin stability. Greater pigment retention
upon heating with additives as compared to pure juice
and pigment preparation samples was found throughout
(Table 1). The addition of ascorbic acid to purple pitaya
juice before heating at pH 4 resulted in pigment retention
twice as high as compared to juice without additives both
immediately after heating and after CS for 24 h at 10 C.
Maximum pigment stability was obtained for purple pitaya
juice at pH 4 with a 1% ascorbic acid supplementation,
aording a pigment retention of 91% after heating and CS.
Table 1
Betacyanin retention (%) after heating (H) and cool storage (CS) of purple pitaya juices and pigment preparations heated at 85 C for 1 h
Additives Additive concentration (%) Juice heated at pH 4 Juice heated at pH 6 Pigment preparation heated
at pH 4
Betacyanin retention (%)
a
Betacyanin retention (%)
a
Betacyanin retention (%)
a
After H After CS After H After CS After H After CS
Without additive 36.9 0.5e 36.4 7.0e 23.2 3.8f 44.3 7.6d 38.1 1.7e 44.1 2.5c
Ascorbic acid 0.1 73.5 2.4b 80.8 4.4b 44.0 4.8b 77.1 5.3a 42.4 2.5d 46.0 3.0bc
Ascorbic acid 1.0 82.9 5.3a 91.4 4.2a 53.4 2.0a 80.7 4.4a 57.3 2.3a 60.3 2.5a
Isoascorbic acid 0.1 73.6 3.3b 78.4 2.9b 35.3 3.6d 64.0 3.4b 46.3 3.7c 44.8 1.4c
Isoascorbic acid 1.0 75.3 4.2b 80.0 4.9b 39.5 0.8c 66.2 3.0b 54.2 3.1a 59.6 2.1a
Citric acid 0.1 43.3 6.5d 44.8 8.1d 27.6 0.5e 51.0 2.7c 38.7 1.8e 44.1 1.6c
Citric acid 1.0 55.1 2.4d 55.5 1.5c 21.1 0.7f 47.4 2.5e 50.5 2.0b 48.3 2.8b
Signicant dierences within values in the same column are indicated with dierent letters (P < 0.05).
a
Calculated as betanin equivalents.
670 K.M. Herbach et al. / Food Research International 39 (2006) 667677
Since in this study isoascorbic acid addition showed less
pronounced stabilising eects than ascorbic acid, the
assumption of stereoselective reaction mechanisms during
heating and regeneration (Bilyk & Howard, 1982) is sup-
ported. According to the authors, diering stabilisation
potential of ascorbic acid and isoascorbic acid is due to dif-
ferent conguration which would aect the formation of an
imidium ion intermediate with betalamic acid, thus pre-
cluding betalamic acid dimerisation counteracting recom-
bination with cyclo-Dopa glucoside. However, contrary
to the present ndings, isoascorbic acid addition before
heating proved to be twice as eective as ascorbic acid
(Bilyk & Howard, 1982), while Attoe and von Elbe
(1985) reported identical stabilising potential for betanin
isolates at elevated temperatures.
Consistent with previous ndings (Attoe & von Elbe,
1985), also citric acid improved betacyanin stability after
heating for 1 h, but was less eective than either ascorbic
or isoascorbic acid at the same level. Stabilising eects of
1% citric acid added to betanin before heating were
assumed to be due to a partial neutralisation of the electro-
philic centre of betanin (Pasch & von Elbe, 1979), thereby
attenuating the nucleophilic attack of water.
Interestingly, previous reports on ascorbic acid exhibit-
ing prooxidative eects applied at elevated concentrations
(Pasch & von Elbe, 1979) could not be corroborated. While
in an earlier investigation on garambullo (Myrtillocactus
geometrizans, Barrera et al., 1998) betacyanins heated at
40 C were more stable at an ascorbic acid concentration
of 0.1% as compared to 0.5%, in this study increasing sup-
plementation with ascorbic acid resulted in a further
improvement of betacyanin stability.
Similar eects of the additives were also monitored at
pH 6 as well as for pigment preparations heated at pH 4.
Stabilisation by citric acid was reported to be negligible
at pH 3.8, but greater than for ascorbic and isoascorbic
acid at pH 6.2 (Han et al., 1998), thus conrming the
pH-dependent ecacy of organic acids. In addition, the
additives showed a less stabilising eect on betacyanins in
pigment preparations (Table 1). A maximum of 60% pig-
ment retention as compared to an unheated solution was
obtained in a sample containing 1% ascorbic acid. The rea-
son for the inferior ecacy of the additives in matrix-free
pigment preparation as compared to juice could not be
disclosed.
3.2. Colour properties of thermally treated purple pitaya
juices and pigment preparations
3.2.1. Lightness L
*
Lightness values increased upon thermal treatment
for all samples under investigation (Tables 24). The
extent of L
*
increments varied depending on additive
type and concentration, the pH value and the presence
of matrix components of purple pitaya juice, respec-
tively.
3.2.1.1. Samples without additives. In agreement with beta-
cyanin retention, a comparable lightness increase was mon-
itored for juice and pigment solution samples heated at pH
4, while the juice at pH 6 exhibited higher values immedi-
ately after thermal treatment, which was compensated dur-
ing CS. Thus, the ndings of a previous report showing
that L
*
was a reliable indicator of pigment retention in
Table 2
Colour characteristics after heating (H) and cool storage (CS) of purple pitaya juices adjusted to pH 4 heated at 85 C for 1h
Additive Additive concentration (%) L
*
after H L
*
after CS C
*
after H C
*
after CS h after H h after CS
Unheated juice 66.7 0.9e 66.7 0.9d 62.2 1.8a 62.2 1.8a 333.3 0.1e 333.3 0.1c
Without additive 80.3 0.2a 79.6 0.8a 23.2 0.2e 24.5 1.4e 1.2 1.4a 1.3 0.3a
Ascorbic acid 0.1 71.7 1.2c 70.1 1.4c 47.8 2.5c 52.7 2.9c 336.7 0.2d 335.5 0.1c
Ascorbic acid 1.0 69.7 1.2d 67.9 0.8d 52.2 2.3b 56.9 1.7b 336.5 0.2d 335.6 0.3c
Isoascorbic acid 0.1 71.7 0.7c 70.7 0.7c 47.8 1.7c 51.3 1.4c 336.6 0.1d 335.4 0.2c
Isoascorbic acid 1.0 71.3 0.8cd 70.3 1.1c 48.6 2.0bc 52.0 2.2c 336.5 0.4d 335.4 0.3c
Citric acid 0.1 78.5 2.0a 78.0 2.4a 27.0 3.7e 28.2 4.8e 358.8 2.7b 359.1 4.0a
Citric acid 1.0 75.2 0.6b 75.1 0.4b 33.4 1.2d 34.3 0.8d 353.5 0.4c 352.4 0.3b
Signicant dierences within values in the same column are indicated with dierent letters (P < 0.05).
Table 3
Colour characteristics after heating (H) and cool storage (CS) of purple pitaya juices adjusted to pH 6 heated at 85 C for 1 h
Additive Additive concentration (%) L
*
after H L
*
after CS C
*
after H C
*
after CS h after H h after CS
Unheated juice 66.7 0.9f 66.7 0.9f 62.2 1.8a 62.2 1.8a 333.3 0.1e 333.3 0.1c
Without additive 84.2 1.2a 78.0 2.1a 14.6 1.7b 28.4 5.3d 28.5 9.1b 350.8 4.7a
Ascorbic acid 0.1 81.0 1.4c 70.3 1.2e 25.4 2.2c 49.0 2.4b 10.2 2.9c 338.4 0.3b
Ascorbic acid 1.0 75.3 0.6e 69.2 1.1e 31.2 1.0d 51.0 1.9b 351.5 1.2d 337.4 0.3b
Isoascorbic acid 0.1 81.0 1.1c 73.5 0.9cd 21.1 2.6e 43.1 2.0c 358.4 5.5d 337.5 0.6b
Isoascorbic acid 1.0 79.3 0.3d 72.7 0.7d 23.3 0.4ce 44.1 1.6c 356.1 0.6d 337.2 0.1b
Citric acid 0.1 82.0 0.2bc 75.5 0.8bc 17.1 0.3b 32.1 1.7d 24.6 1.5b 350.1 1.1a
Citric acid 1.0 83.5 0.3ab 75.8 0.9b 14.8 0.4b 30.6 1.5d 38.3 0.5a 351.1 0.5a
Signicant dierences within values in the same column are indicated with dierent letters (P < 0.05).
K.M. Herbach et al. / Food Research International 39 (2006) 667677 671
betacyanin-containing solutions (Herbach et al., 2006)
were corroborated.
3.2.1.2. Samples with additives. Each additive proved to be
eective in stabilising the L
*
value of purple pitaya juice
both at pH 4 and pH 6 (Tables 2 and 3). As in the case
of betacyanin retention, optimal L
*
maintenance was
achieved in juice heated at pH 4 containing 1% ascorbic
acid, amounting to 67.9 in the sample heated for 1 h at
85 C, i.e. it did not signicantly dier from the unheated
juice sample (L
*
= 66.7). Again, citric acid was less eective
than either of the ascorbic acid stereoisomers.
Interestingly, thermal treatment of pigment prepara-
tions (Table 4) containing 0.1% of the additives resulted
in lightness values identical to those of the solution heated
without additives after CS, i.e. 77.1. The addition of ascor-
bic acid or isoascorbic acid at the 1.0% level aorded
maximum L
*
value retention under the conditions studied,
but was not able to retard lightness increment substan-
tially, yielding L
*
values of about 73. Hence, the addition
of organic acids proved to be much more eective in stabil-
ising the L
*
value of purple pitaya juice than in pigment
preparations, which agrees with the results obtained for
betacyanin retention (see Section 3.1).
3.2.2. Chroma C
*
Heating at 85 C for 1 h resulted in decreased chroma
values for both purple pitaya juice samples and pigment
preparations. As previously described for puried betacya-
nins (Herbach et al., 2006), decreasing C
*
is indicative of
yellow degradation products resulting from thermal treat-
ment, thus causing a decline in colour purity.
3.2.2.1. Samples without additives. In terms of chroma
retention, the heated pigment preparation (Table 4) exhib-
ited superior values as compared to juice heated at pH 4
(Table 2), reecting minor formation of coloured degrada-
tion products in the puried solution. The severe chroma
loss directly after heating followed by the twofold increase
in C
*
of the juice sample at pH 6 after CS (Table 3) was due
to enhanced betacyanin hydrolysis at elevated pH (Sch-
wartz & von Elbe, 1983). The resulting bright yellow beta-
lamic acid might be responsible for the chroma decline.
However, after its recondensation with cyclo-Dopa deriva-
tives, betalamic acid is reintegrated into betacyanins
(Fig. 2), thus reconstituting colour purity.
3.2.2.2. Samples with additives. As described for L
*
values,
ascorbic acid proved to be the most eective organic acid
for stabilising betacyanins both in pitaya juice and in pig-
ment preparations thereof, yielding maximum chroma
retention at a concentration of 1.0%. Highest ascorbic acid
ecacy was found in juice at pH 4. Therefore, also C
*
val-
ues conrmed that betacyanin stabilising additives were
less eective in the absence of matrix constituents.
3.2.3. Hue angle h
In general, thermal treatment induced a colour shift in
juices as well as in pigment solutions. Starting from a
redpurple tonality in unheated samples (333 and 336,
respectively, see Table 2), increasing hue angle values were
observed upon thermal exposure, reecting a colour shift
Table 4
Colour characteristics after heating (H) and cool storage (CS) of pigment preparations adjusted to pH 4 heated at 85 C for 1h
Additive Additive concentration (%) L
*
after H L
*
after CS C
*
after H C
*
after CS h after H h after CS
Unheated pigment preparation 64.6 0.8d 64.6 0.8d 64.5 1.7a 64.5 1.7a 336.0 0.2e 336.0 0.2f
Without additive 79.1 0.6a 77.1 0.9ab 27.7 1.1e 32.4 1.5d 348.4 0.2a 346.2 0.4a
Ascorbic acid 0.1 78.4 0.8ab 77.2 0.9ab 32.0 1.9d 34.5 2.3cd 340.6 0.7c 340.2 0.7c
Ascorbic acid 1.0 74.1 0.6c 73.2 0.7c 42.0 1.1b 44.3 1.4b 339.3 0.2d 338.2 0.2e
Isoascorbic acid 0.1 77.1 1.2b 77.7 0.4a 34.3 2.4cd 33.9 0.8cd 340.6 0.1c 339.8 0.2cd
Isoascorbic acid 1.0 75.0 0.9c 73.4 0.6c 39.6 1.8b 43.3 1.2b 339.8 0.3cd 338.9 0.4de
Citric acid 0.1 79.1 0.6a 77.1 0.7ab 28.4 1.2e 32.3 0.9d 348.1 0.6a 347.0 1.0a
Citric acid 1.0 75.2 1.0c 76.0 1.0b 36.1 1.0c 35.8 1.7c 345.5 0.9b 343.7 0.3b
Signicant dierences within values in the same column are indicated with dierent letters (P < 0.05).
Phyllocactin
Betanin
Indicaxanthin
Betalamic
acid
Isoindicaxanthin
Isobetalamic
acid
Isobetanin
Malonic acid
Proline
CDG CDG
Fig. 2. Proposed scheme for hydrolytic cleavage and condensation
reactions of purple pitaya betalains upon thermal treatment (CDG:
cyclo-Dopa glucoside).
672 K.M. Herbach et al. / Food Research International 39 (2006) 667677
towards yellow, as previously described for purple pitaya
juice (Herbach et al., 2004a) and puried betanin, phylloc-
actin, and hylocerenin solutions (Herbach et al., 2006).
3.2.3.1. Samples without additives. As in the case of L
*
and
C
*
values, also maximum retention of h was achieved
in the pigment preparation heated at pH 4 (Table 4), while
the juice sample heated at pH 4 without additives exhibited
the greatest colour shift of 28 after 24 h of CS
(Table 2). The thermally treated juice at pH 6 (Table 3)
showed a brownish-red tonality (28.5) immediately after
heat exposure, thus indicating the formation of betalamic
acid. This assumption was supported by a considerable
h decrease during CS, reecting betacyanin regeneration
at the expense of free betalamic acid (Fig. 2).
3.2.3.2. Samples with additives. For juice heated at pH 4
(Table 2), ascorbic acid and isoascorbic acid at both con-
centrations yielded identical hue angle values of about
335, i.e. values were not signicantly dierent from
unheated juice. Citric acid was not able to stabilise colour
as eectively, but its impact increased with concentration.
Also for juice samples at pH 6 (Table 3), nearly identical
hue angles were obtained for all samples containing ascor-
bic or isoascorbic acid, while the addition of citric acid did
not stabilise h. In the pigment preparation heated at pH 4
(Table 4), both ascorbic and isoascorbic acid were eective
in upholding the tonality, the higher concentration being
even more ecient. Also citric acid aorded colour
improvement increasing with concentration, however, at
a lower level than the ascorbic acid isomers. Hence, again
no detrimental eects of elevated ascorbic acid concentra-
tions on visual appearance could be observed.
3.3. Pigment pattern of thermally treated purple pitaya juices
and pigment preparations
To get an insight into the impact of organic acid addi-
tion on structural alterations, the development of the pre-
dominant betacyanins in purple pitaya juice, betanin and
phyllocactin, was monitored. Betanin isomerisation and
phyllocactin deacylation were evaluated in detail by com-
paring their respective peak areas and peak area ratios.
Additionally, HPLC analysis revealed the formation of
indicaxanthin (proline-betaxanthin, Fig. 1C) and isoindica-
xanthin (isoproline-betaxanthin, Fig. 1D) during thermal
treatment of purple pitaya juice.
3.3.1. Betanin isomerisation
Betanin has been previously reported to undergo C
15
-
isomerisation (15S15R racemisation) during thermal
treatment of red beet juice (Herbach, Stintzing, & Carle,
2004b; von Elbe et al., 1981; Fig. 2). In contrast, the reverse
reaction, i.e. an increasing betanin/isobetanin ratio, has
only recently been reported to proceed during heat treat-
ment of a puried betanin solution (Herbach et al.,
2006). In the present study, both reaction courses were
monitored, depending on the sample type and the specic
additive applied.
3.3.1.1. Samples without additives. As shown in Table 5,
heat treatment of purple pitaya juice and pigment prepara-
tion without additives did not result in betanin isomerisa-
tion, but rather in an increase of the betanin/isobetanin
peak area ratio. Since this increment was observed at both
pH values, a pH-independent reaction course was assumed.
A slight increase of the betanin/isobetanin ratio after heat
exposure in the pigment preparation rather than juice may
be due to the lack of stabilising matrix constituents (Her-
bach et al., 2006).
3.3.1.2. Samples with additives. Interestingly, the betanin/
isobetanin ratio was inuenced by the addition of ascorbic,
isoascorbic and citric acids prior to heating. In pitaya juice
heated at pH 4, betanin isomerisation was enhanced by
ascorbic acid and isoascorbic acid to a greater extent than
by citric acid, as reected by decreasing peak area ratio of
betanin and isobetanin (Table 5). In each case, racemisa-
tion increased with additive concentration. Betanin isom-
erisation with the addition of either acid was nearly
identical after heat treatment of pitaya juice at pH 6. Rac-
emisation of betanin was only induced to a small extent at
a concentration of 1.0%. In the pigment solution heated at
pH 4, the ecacy of the ascorbic acid stereoisomers and
Table 5
Betanin/isobetanin and betanin/phyllocactin peak area ratios at 535 nm in
purple pitaya juices and pigment preparations heated at 85 C for 1 h
Additive Additive
concentration (%)
Betanin/
isobetanin
Betanin/
phyllocactin
Unheated juice 3.7 0.5
Juice heated at pH 4
Without additive 4.3 1.1
Ascorbic acid 0.1 3.1 0.9
Ascorbic acid 1.0 2.0 0.9
Isoascorbic acid 0.1 3.2 0.9
Isoascorbic acid 1.0 2.1 0.9
Citric acid 0.1 3.6 1.1
Citric acid 1.0 3.2 1.0
Juice heated at pH 6
Without additive 4.2 1.0
Ascorbic acid 0.1 3.8 1.1
Ascorbic acid 1.0 3.4 1.1
Isoascorbic acid 0.1 3.8 1.1
Isoascorbic acid 1.0 3.5 1.1
Citric acid 0.1 4.0 1.0
Citric acid 1.0 3.6 1.1
Unheated pigment preparation 3.8 0.5
Pigment preparation heated at pH 4
Without additive 4.6 1.0
Ascorbic acid 0.1 3.7 1.0
Ascorbic acid 1.0 1.9 0.9
Isoascorbic acid 0.1 3.7 1.0
Isoascorbic acid 1.0 2.0 1.0
Citric acid 0.1 4.4 1.1
Citric acid 1.0 3.1 1.0
K.M. Herbach et al. / Food Research International 39 (2006) 667677 673
citric acid at the 0.1% level was much smaller than in the
respective juice samples, again suggesting diminished
eects of the additives in puried solution.
3.3.2. Peak area ratio betanin/phyllocactin
In the unheated juice and pigment preparation, respec-
tively, phyllocactin represented the predominant betacya-
nin. Its peak area at 535 nm was twice that of betanin, as
reected by the betanin/phyllocactin peak area ratio of
0.5 (Table 5). Astonishingly, in all samples heated at
85 C for 1 h, this ratio levelled o to 1.0 0.1, irrespective
of the pH value, juice matrix constituents and additives,
respectively. As deacylation of phyllocactin during thermal
treatment to form betanin has been reported (Herbach,
Stintzing, & Carle, 2005; Herbach et al., 2006; Fig. 2), this
reaction is assumed to proceed until reaching a betanin-
phyllocactin equilibrium of about 1.
3.3.3. Indicaxanthin
Purple pitaya juice obtained by manually squeezing has
been reported to be devoid of betaxanthins (Stintzing et al.,
2002a). However, small amounts of indicaxanthin (proline-
betaxanthin) were found in the purple pitaya juice pro-
duced in the present study, as identied by its retention
time and mass spectral data, respectively (data not shown).
Consequently, also the puried pigment preparation con-
tained indicaxanthin (Fig. 3). As betaxanthins were
reported to degrade faster than betacyanins (Saguy, 1979;
Singer & von Elbe, 1980; Herbach et al., 2004b), indicaxan-
thin was supposed to readily decompose upon thermal
treatment.
3.3.3.1. Samples without additives. Unexpectedly, in the
juice sample heated at pH 4 the peak area of indicaxanthin
was nearly identical before and after thermal treatment
(Fig. 3). Additionally, a further peak eluting prior to indi-
caxanthin emerged which was identied as isoindicaxan-
thin (Fig. 1D) by mass spectrometry (data not shown).
Betaxanthin formation was even more pronounced in the
juice heated at pH 6, the peak area of indicaxanthin
increasing 2.5-fold compared to unheated juice, while isoin-
dicaxanthin generation was twofold higher than for the
juice heated at pH 4 (Fig. 3). It is supposed that indicaxan-
thin and its C
11
-epimer isoindicaxanthin were formed in
thermally treated purple pitaya juice through the associa-
tion of proline and betalamic or isobetalamic acid gener-
ated by hydrolytic cleavage of betacyanins (Herbach
et al., 2004b; Fig. 2). The formation of vulgaxanthin I by
addition of glutamine prior to heat treatment of a betanin
solution as well as indicaxanthin generation from betanin
in excess of proline was described earlier (Czapski, 1990;
von Elbe & Goldman, 2000). Additionally, Hylocereus
polyrhizus fruits were reported to contain more than
300 mg/L proline (Stintzing et al., 2003). Moreover, proline
was previously shown to exhibit a high transformation rate
with betanin to form the corresponding betaxanthin as
0 0 + E 0 . 0
6 0 + E 0 . 1
6 0 + E 0 . 2
6 0 + E 0 . 3
6 0 + E 0 . 4
6 0 + E 0 . 5
6 0 + E 0 . 6
6 0 + E 0 . 7
6 0 + E 0 . 8
6 0 + E 0 . 9
7 0 + E 0 . 1
e
h
n
U
e
c
i
u
J
d
e
t
a
e
c
i
u
J
4
H
p
.
d
d
a
o
n
e
c
i
u
J
s
A
4
H
p
%
1
.
0
c
A
4
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
s
%
0
.
1
c
J
p
e
c
i
u
%
1
.
0
c
s
A
o
s
I
4
H
%
0
.
1
c
s
A
o
s
I
4
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
i
C
4
%
1
.
0
r
t
i
C
4
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
r
t
%
0
.
1
6
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
o
n
.
d
d
a
s
A
6
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
%
1
.
0
c
s
A
6
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
0
.
1
c
%
p
e
c
i
u
J
c
s
A
o
s
I
6
H
%
1
.
0
p
e
c
i
u
J
o
s
I
6
H
%
0
.
1
c
s
A
u
J
i
C
6
H
p
e
c
i
%
1
.
0
r
t
i
C
6
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
%
0
.
1
r
t d
e
t
a
e
h
n
U
.
p
e
r
P
d
a
o
n
4
H
p
.
p
e
r
P
.
d
P
e
a
k

a
r
e
a

[
m
A
U
]
n i h t n a x a c i d n i o s I n i h t n a x a c i d n I
Fig. 3. Peak areas of isoindicaxanthin and indicaxanthin in purple pitaya juices and pigment preparations heated at 85 C for 1 h monitored at 470 nm
(Prep.: Pigment preparation; no add.: without additive; Asc: ascorbic acid; IsoAsc: isoascorbic acid; Citr: citric acid).
674 K.M. Herbach et al. / Food Research International 39 (2006) 667677
compared to other amino acids (von Elbe & Goldman,
2000). Thus, preferential indicaxanthin formation is highly
plausible. To the best of our knowledge, this is the rst
report on betaxanthin formation upon thermal treatment
of pitaya juice.
In contrast, the pigment solution heated without addi-
tives showed a considerable decrease in indicaxanthin,
amounting to 7.3% of the unheated pigment preparation
(Fig. 3). Since amino acids were removed during purica-
tion, only cyclo-Dopa derivatives released upon betacyanin
hydrolysis (Fig. 2) were available as condensation partners
for betalamic acid in the pigment preparation. Thus, more
pronounced betacyanin regeneration in the pigment prepa-
ration compared to purple pitaya juice heated at pH 4
without additives (see Section 3.1) is plausible, because
betalamic acid was consumed by betaxanthin formation
in pitaya juice, thus reducing its availability for betacyanin
recondensation. Additionally, formation or degradation of
indicaxanthin during thermal treatment of purple pitaya
juices or betacyanin solutions, respectively, may result in
the dierent hue angle values monitored. While in the latter
the violet tonality was maintained, the colour of the juice
sample without additives changed to violetred after ther-
mal treatment (Tables 24).
3.3.3.2. Samples with additives. Whereas indicaxanthin in
heated pigment preparations containing additives was no
more detectable, its presence together with its stereoisomer
was conrmed in all juice samples examined (Fig. 3). Inter-
estingly, the peak area of isoindicaxanthin increased with
the concentration of the respective additive. In accordance,
amplied betanin isomerisation was monitored with
increasing additive dosage (see Section 3.3.1). The reason
for the increased betaxanthin formation in samples heated
at pH 6 may be explained by betacyanin hydrolysis pre-
dominating at this pH, i.e. at pH 6 betalamic acid forma-
tion is enhanced as compared to pH 4 (Schwartz & von
Elbe, 1983), enabling condensation with proline to form
indicaxanthin. The peak areas of indicaxanthin and isoin-
dicaxanthin in juice heated at pH 6 were greater for the
samples containing the smaller additive concentration,
which is in disagreement with the ndings for the samples
heated at pH 4 (Fig. 3).
3.3.4. Individual and total peak area change of betacyanins
For comparison of the individual retention of betanin,
isobetanin, and phyllocactin, respectively, their individual
peak area change in relation to the respective unheated
samples was plotted together with the total peak area
change monitored at 535 nm (Fig. 4).
3.3.4.1. Samples without additives. Depending on the pH
value applied, pitaya juice samples exhibited dierent beta-
cyanin patterns: The total peak area retention monitored at
535 nm was greater as compared to the individual betacya-
nins under observation in the juice sample heated at pH 4,
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
d
d
a
o
n
4
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
.
J
%
1
.
0
c
s
A
4
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
H
p
e
c
i
u
%
0
.
1
c
s
A
4
e
c
i
u
J
H
p
%
1
.
0
c
s
A
o
s
I
4
e
c
i
u
J
1
c
s
A
o
s
I
4
H
p
%
0
.
e
c
i
u
J
%
1
.
0
r
t
i
C
4
H
p
1
r
t
i
C
4
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
%
0
.
.
d
d
a
o
n
6
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
J
%
1
.
0
c
s
A
6
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
e
c
i
u
%
0
.
1
c
s
A
6
H
p
%
1
.
0
c
s
A
o
s
I
6
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
e
c
i
u
J
o
s
I
6
H
p
%
0
.
1
c
s
A
1
.
0
r
t
i
C
6
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
%
i
C
6
H
p
e
c
i
u
J
%
0
.
1
r
t n
4
H
p
.
p
e
r
P
d
d
a
o
.
.
0
c
s
A
4
H
p
.
p
e
r
P
%
1
%
0 .
1
c
s
A
4
H
p
.
p
e
r
P
.
p
e
r
P
.
0
c
s
A
o
s
I
4
H
p
%
1
.
1
c
s
A
o
s
I
4
H
p
.
p
e
r
P
%
0
r
P
C
4
H
p
.
p
e
%
1
.
0
r
t
i
C
4
H
p
.
p
e
r
P
%
0
.
1
r
t
i
R
e
l
a
t
i
v
e

p
e
a
k

a
r
e
a

c
h
a
n
g
e

[
%
]
n i n a t e B n i n a t e b o s I n i t c a c o l l y h P m n 5 3 5 t a a e r a k a e p l a t o T
Fig. 4. Relative peak area changes [%] of betanin, isobetanin, phyllocactin, and total peak areas monitored at 535 nm in purple pitaya juices and pigment
preparations heated at 85 C for 1 h (Prep.: Pigment preparation; no add.: without additive; Asc: ascorbic acid; IsoAsc: isoascorbic acid; Citr: citric acid).
K.M. Herbach et al. / Food Research International 39 (2006) 667677 675
while after heating at pH 6 the reverse development was
monitored (Fig. 4). This corroborates ndings of red degra-
dation products generated upon heating at pH 4 being
more stable than the genuine betacyanins (Herbach et al.,
2006; Huang & von Elbe, 1987). Interestingly, the pigment
solution heated at pH 4 showed an intermediate pigment
pattern, i.e. the total peak area retention was identical to
that of betanin, but higher when compared to isobetanin
and phyllocactin. This is in agreement with betanin/isobet-
anin and betanin/phyllocactin peak area ratios: Betanin
retention was greater compared to isobetanin, leading to
the peak area ratio increase upon heating. Additionally,
the betanin/phyllocactin peak area ratio increment is com-
prehensible, in accordance with a previous report of phyl-
locactin being less heat stable than betanin (Herbach
et al., 2006).
3.3.4.2. Samples with additives. Each additive resulted in
peak area enlargement both of the individual pigments
under observation and the total peak area at 535 nm.
Moreover, ascorbic and isoascorbic acids applied at the
1.0% level clearly enhanced betanin isomerisation, espe-
cially in the samples heated at pH 4, as obvious from the
increments of isobetanin peak area upon heating, while
the remaining betacyanins were degraded.
4. Conclusions
It was shown that betacyanins in purple pitaya juice as
well as in a puried pigment preparation derived therefrom
can be stabilised by the addition of ascorbic, isoascorbic,
and citric acids, respectively. The presence of matrix com-
pounds eciently improved the betacyanin stabilising eect
of organic acid supplements, the best results being obtained
in pitaya juice heated at pH 4 when adding 1.0% ascorbic
acid.
The pH value conditions clearly inuenced the reaction
paths of betacyanin degradation, pH 6 leading to enhanced
hydrolytic cleavage of the aldimine bond, while at pH 4
other degradation mechanisms (i.e., decarboxylation and
dehydrogenation) were favoured. Hence, the intensied
betacyanin loss immediately after heating at pH 6 followed
by fortied colour regain is plausible. Moreover, a 24 h
cool storage period following thermal treatment for maxi-
mum pigment regeneration, especially after thermal treat-
ment at elevated pH, is crucial.
In short, heat-stability of betacyanins in purple pitaya
juice stabilised with ascorbic acid is suitable for food col-
ouring. The stability of purple pitaya juice with added
ascorbic acid during storage is currently being
investigated.
Since indicaxanthin was shown to be formed by thermal
treatment, especially at elevated pH values, generation of
further betaxanthins appears to be possible. Indicaxanthin
formation during juice processing may explain the novel
ndings of indicaxanthin in processed purple pitaya juice.
In addition to previous ndings of thermal betacyanin
dehydrogenation (Herbach et al., 2004a, 2004b), betaxan-
thin formation upon heating presents a second mechanism
for inducing yellow colour shifts in betacyanin containing
food.
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