Compositional characteristics, health benefit and risk of commercial bilberry and black chokeberry juices

An insight into chemical composition, nutritional value and potential health risk of increasingly popular bilberry and black chokeberry commercial juices was provided, based on HPLC-UV (anthocyanins and non-anthocyanin phenolics; patulin; hydroxymethylfurfural), AAS (minerals) and ICP-MS (trace elements) analyses. Delfinidin (in bilberry) and cyanidin glycosides (in bilberry and chokeberry) were the most abundantly present anthocyanins, chlorogenic acid dominated among non-anthocyanin polyphenols, while mineral composition revealed high K and desirable low Na content. A glass of blueberry/black chockeberry juice (200 mL) per day could provide up to 63.5/27.0 mg of anthocyanins, 147.2/314.0 mg of polyphenols, almost 50% of Mg (the only mineral satisfying the requirement for a nutritional claim) and, in case of chokeberry, 20% of Mn adequate intake. No health risk was observed related to any of the investigated toxicants. Despite indications of a possible benefitial role for health, observed compositional variations precluded positioning of berry juices as functional foods. The labelling could help specialist in nutrition and functional foods as well as health-conscious consumers seeking foods with reliable quantity of dietary valuable phytochemicals and minerals. Sufficiently characterised food has been one of the prerequisites for the approval of a health claim, along with sufficiently defined and substantiated claimed effect.