Antioxidants

Coffee Grounds Have 500 Times the Antioxidants of Vitamin C

The antioxidant properties of coffee by-products including grounds and silverskin are 500 times greater than those of vitamin C, according to recent research.

“Coffee companies produce annually more than 2 billion tons of byproducts such as coffee spent grounds (CSG) and coffee silverskin (CS). And most of which are thrown away and are not recycled for other purposes,” explained the study’s researchers.
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Through their research into whether these byproducts could be recycled, they found that CSG and CS, as well as coffee melanoidins (CM)—a compound generated during the roasting process—all created significant antioxidant effects, some 500 times greater than those created by vitamin C, and that CM “exerted an intense antimicrobial activity that could be used to avoid the growth of pathogenic bacteria in food products.”

Researchers noted that they were able to further increase the antioxidant effects of the byproducts by simply adding sugar during the roasting process, which helps to produce more CM.

They stressed that further study should be conducted into the recycling of these byproducts into beneficial food ingredients, which could also significantly lessen the environmental impact of the waste products.

The complete study is published in the April issue of LWT-Food Science and Technology.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:

Jimenez-Zamora A, Pastoriza S, Rufian-Henares JA, et al. Revalorization of coffee by-products. Prebiotic, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. LWT. 2015 May [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1016/j.lwt.2014.11.031.