Abstract
Subye is a traditional cold drink prepared with melon seeds, sugar and water. The aim of this study was to investigate the food matrix effect on the bioaccessibility of phenolic compounds by determining the changes in total phenolics and total antioxidant capacity of subye formulations prepared with sugar/sweetener, using an in vitro model mimicking the digestion in the mouth, stomach and intestine. The results showed that presence of sugar in subye formulations increases the bioaccessibility of total phenolics (42–64%) (P <0.05) and total antioxidant capacity (13–172%). Although bioaccessibility of phenolics and antioxidants increased in most of the beverages prepared with sweetener (80% and 16-62%, respectively), for some formulations presence of sweetener did not induce a significant effect on the bioaccessibility of total phenolics and total antioxidant capacity. Overall, the findings obtained in this study pointed out that in general presence of sugar/sweetener positively affects the bioaccessibility of phenolics.