Determinación del Contenido de Polifenoles Totales, Flavonoides y Actividad Antioxidante de 34 Cafés Comerciales de Panamá

The main objective of this research was to determine the content of total polyphenols, flavonoids and antioxidant activity of 34 commercial coffees in Panama. Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world, and it is considered to have nutraceutical properties due to its content of bioactive substances. The parameters of interest in this study were determined spectrophotometrically. Total polyphenols content of pure and mixed coffees was in the range of 28.60 to 46.82 and 11.17 to 16.10 mg of gallic acid (GAE)/g of coffee respectively. Flavonoids content was 22.16 to 38.29 and 9.36 to 14.92 mg of catechin/g of coffee respectively, and antioxidant activity was in the range of 0.11 to 0.20 and 0.025 to 0.061 mmol of trolox (TE)/g of coffee respectively. A correlation of R2 = 0.69 was found between antioxidant activity and total polyphenols for pure coffees and a correlation of R2 = 0.04 for mixed coffees. These results allow concluding that total polyphenols are substances that importantly contribute to the antioxidant capacity of coffee