Microfiltered red-purple pitaya concentrate: A promising multifunctional food-derived colorant

Red pitaya fruit has become a source of natural colorant, because it is rich in betalains, a pigment that imparts a red-purple color that interests the food and cosmetics industries. This fruit also possesses high nutritional value, with a range of bioactive compounds known to confer potential healthbenefitsandpreventchronicdiseases,suchasdiabetes,whichmakesitusefulforuse as pharmaceutical agents and dietary supplements. In order to improve itstechnological and biological effects, a concentration will be required. Thus, themicrofiltration, followed by vacuum concentration, can be an interesting strat-egy for this purpose. This study aimed to explore tangential microfiltration toproduce microfiltered material, which is an important step to obtain the micro-filtered red-purple pitaya concentrate. Therefore, physicochemical and chemicalcharacterization (including1H NMR analysis) and biological properties (toxicityand diabetes) of this concentrate were assessed, using adult zebrafish as a model.The results show that microfiltration was carried out efficiently, with an averageconsumption of 95.75 +/- 3.13 and 74.12 +/- 3.58 kW h m-3, varying according to thematerial used ("unpeeled pitaya pulp" or "pitaya pulp with peel," respectively).The in vivo tests indicated non-toxicity and hypoglycemic effect of the concen-trate, since the blood glucose levels were significantly lower in the zebrafishgroups treated with this concentrate in comparison with that of control group.Thus, this study suggests the potential of microfiltered red-purple pitaya concen-trate as a promising multifunctional food-derived colorant, exhibiting beneficialbiological effects far beyond its attractive color.