Enhancement of bioavailable naringenin from low furocoumarin grapefruit for use in functionalconfections

Naringenin, a flavonoid in grapefruit, is associated with favorable health outcomes due to its beneficial bioactive properties. This research aimed to improve the naringenin delivered by functional food derived from grapefruit and grapefruit peel, and utilize processing techniques to enhance naringenin availability. This research also assessed the viability of using low-furocoumarin grapefruit cultivars for naringenin delivery to minimize interactions with medication. Low-furocoumarin grapefruit was hypothesized to behave comparably to conventional counterparts and that grapefruit peel could offset its low levels of naringenin. The incorporation of grapefruit peel almost completely deterred confection syneresis. Enzymatic treatment of both grapefruit juice and peel yielded a 100% conversion of grapefruit naringenin species into their most bioavailable form. And naringenin was successfully encapsulated with β-cyclodextrin. Overall, this demonstrates how grapefruit peel may improve naringenin delivery and physical properties in agar confections, and also how bioavailability of naringenin in grapefruit product matrices may be improved.