THE INFLUENCE OF WINEMAKING ON THE CONTENT OF NATURAL ANTIOXIDANTS AND MINERAL ELEMENTS IN WINES MADE FROM BERRY FRUITS

Bioactive compounds are natural antioxidants essential for the normal functioning of a body. The main sources of antioxidants are fruit and vegetables. Bioactive compounds are essentially stable during the storage of raw material, but their processing leads to significant changes in the content of these compounds, which continue during the storage of end products. A substantial proportion of biologically active compounds is destroyed during technological processing as well as long-term storage of products in unsuitable conditions. Hence the aim of the study was to determine the effect of the winemaking process on the antioxidant potential and content of phenolic compounds (anthocyanins and tannins), vitamin C, minerals and catalase activity in wines obtained from black currant, red currant, strawberry, grape and raspberry. While grape wines are very popular because of their flavour and other health-promoting effects, wines produced from berry fruits are a source of numerous valuable natural antioxidant compounds that are beneficial for health. Wine made from black currants was found to contain the greatest quantity of antioxidants. Among the berry fruits analyzed, black currant proved to have the highest antioxidant properties, which was linked to its high content of polyphenolic compounds, vitamin C and mineral nutrients. Similarly, wine obtained from the fruit of black currant had the highest capacity to scavenge free radicals.