Abstract:

Nonalcoholic beverages such as juices and juice beverages, soft drinks, energy drinks, milk, and soy beverages provide a variety of health benefits. Many of them contain water-soluble nutrients, which consist of great resources of antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins. The consumption of these products comprises a significant part of the daily diet as from freshly squeezed juice to processed fortified beverages. One of the most important nutrients of these beverages are vitamins either fat-soluble (A, D) or water-soluble (B-complex, C) that are essential for human life and for normal body function. Nowadays, the food industry is interested in nutritionally rich foods and beverages with vitamins in order to replace the losses during storage and processing or to enable a nutritional label claim on the product. At the same time, consumers choose fresh, fortified beverages enhancing their diet and their health. This chapter is an effort to classify the vitamins in fresh and processed nonalcoholic beverages and their nutritional importance. Several analytical methodologies for their determination in different food matrices (fruits, vegetables, and their products), mainly chromatographic methods, are presented. Because of their instability, it is necessary to focus on the extraction procedure that will not cause their degradation.

Publisher's Version