Biosorption of biocompounds from white and green tea in Saccharomyces cerevisiae waste: Study of the secondary metabolites by UPLC-QToF-MS and simulated in vitro gastrointestinal digestion

The bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds were increased in white and green teas that are normally degraded due to the adverse conditions of the human gastrointestinal system. The hypothesis was that the association of tea extracts with Saccharomyces cerevisiae during the biosorption process would protect bioactive compounds, making them more bioaccessible. Different treatments with yeast and extracts with pH changes were tested to assess whether there was an improvement in biosorptive capacity, which, occurred with alkaline treatments. Colorimetric analysis showed that >50% of the phenolic compounds from both extracts were biosorbed on yeast. This was consistent with the results using mass spectrometry and mid-infrared spectroscopy analyses. The in vitro gastrointestinal digestion test showed that bioaccessibility was higher in biosorbed yeasts than in pure extract (38% for white tea and 61% for green tea), which confirms the viability and potential of this application.