Almond (Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb) skins as a potential source of bioactive polyphenols

An exhaustive study of the phenolic composition of almond (Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb) skins was carried out in order to evaluate their potential application as a functional food ingredient. Using the HPLC-DAD/ESI-MS technique, a total of 33 compounds corresponding to flavanols, flavonols, dihydroflavonols and flavanones, and other nonflavonoid compounds were identified. Peaks corresponding to another 23 structure-related compounds were also detected. MALDI-TOF MS was applied to characterize almond skin proanthocyanidins, revealing the existence of a series of A- and B-type procyanidins and propelargonidins up to heptamers, and A- and B-type prodelphinidins up to hexamers. Flavanols and flavonol glycosides were the most abundant phenolic compounds in almond skins, representing up to 38–57% and 14–35% of the total quantified phenolics, respectively. Due to their antioxidant properties, measured as oxygen-radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) at 0.398–0.500 mmol Trolox/g, almond skins can be considered as a value-added byproduct for elaborating dietary antioxidant ingredients.This work received financial support from Projects AGL2003-01088 and AGL2004-07075-C02-02. I.G. was the recipient of a fellowship from the I3P Program funding by the European Social Fund.Peer reviewe