Nutritional properties and biological activities of kiwifruit (Actinidia) and kiwifruit products under simulated gastrointestinal in vitro digestion

BACKGROUND: Kiwifruit is one of the most commercialized fruits on the international market, which has notable high nutritional and medicinal value with many health benefits. In addition to being consumed fresh, numerous kiwifruit products are popular, such as kiwifruit juice, vinegar, dried slices, jam, wine, yogurt, and jelly. Although many studies have described the nutritional properties of kiwifruit, investigations on the nutritional properties of kiwifruit products remain limited, especially for kiwifruit products made from raw kiwifruit. METHODS: Nutritional properties and biological activities of kiwifruit and kiwifruit products, as well as the digestive and absorption characteristics of their nutritional substances, were investigated. RESULTS: Kiwifruit, juice, wine, and vinegar were observed to be rich in vitamin C (VC) and polyphenol and exhibited high biological activities, whereas dried kiwifruit slices and jam showed higher amounts of mineral elements. During oral digestion, VC and polyphenol showed similar absorption characteristics, while mineral elements exhibited a number of different trends. A good release rate of all nutritional substances was observed during stomach digestion, while the release rate decreased in serum-available, colon-available, and post-colonic fractions. Eating dried slices and jam supplied high amounts of mineral elements, while eating kiwifruit supplied the most comprehensive nutritional substances. The biological activities detected in raw foodstuffs were much higher than those detected after in vitro digestion. Furthermore, kiwifruit and wine showed the highest biological activities, while dried kiwifruit slices showed the lowest biological activities. CONCLUSION: These results increased our understanding of the nutritional properties of kiwifruit and its products, providing new information and scientific recommendations to consumers for kiwifruit consumption and to producers for kiwifruit production.