Blackberry polyphenols after simulated digestion
What it found
In lab tests, digestion reduced blackberry polyphenols and their antioxidant activity, but wild blackberries held up better than commercial ones.
The authors say it is not yet known if this happens in people.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Polyphenol loss
After digestion, total phenolic content fell by at least 68% and anthocyanins by at least 74% in both blackberry types.
Antioxidant activity drop
Digestion cut antioxidant activity by more than 50% in both fruits, but wild blackberries still had the highest activity in lab tests.
Cell antioxidant activity
In Caco-2 cells, digested blackberries had 48% less antioxidant activity for wild and 56% less for commercial. Their ability to stop reactive oxygen species fell by 50% for wild and up to 86% for commercial.
Phenolic compounds
More than 40 phenolics were identified during digestion, and most broke down completely.
Wild vs commercial
Wild blackberry polyphenols withstood the digestive environment better than commercial ones in these lab tests.
What the authors conclude
“However, whether this corresponds to a better bioaccessibility in humans remains to be determined in future work.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say that digestion is a complex process that affects the bioactive properties of food nutrients, especially phenolics.
- They note that the lab results suggest wild blackberry phenolics have higher bioaccessibility and antioxidant capacity than commercial ones.
- They advise that whether this means better bioaccessibility in humans remains to be determined in future work.
How it was done
The authors wanted to see how digestion affects the stability, bioaccessibility and antioxidant activity of polyphenols from wild and commercial blackberries.
They put wild and commercial blackberries through a simulated digestion protocol (INFOGEST) and measured polyphenols and antioxidant activity at each stage. They also tested digested samples on Caco-2 cells.
What it can’t tell you
- These are lab and cell tests, not studies in people. They cannot show what happens in the human body.
- The authors say it is not yet known if the results match what happens in people.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico
The paper
- Title
- In vitro gastrointestinal digestion impact on stability, bioaccessibility and antioxidant activity of polyphenols from wild and commercial blackberries (Rubus spp.)
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Sánchez-Velázquez OA, Mulero M, Cuevas-Rodríguez EO, Mondor M, Arcand Y, Hernández-Álvarez AJ (2021). In vitro gastrointestinal digestion impact on stability, bioaccessibility and antioxidant activity of polyphenols from wild and commercial blackberries (Rubus spp.). Food & function. doi:10.1039/d1fo00986aFree full textPubMed 34180938DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error