Avaliação da concentração de retinol em requeijões cremosos comercializados em Natal, RN/Brasil

Abstract

Lipids are food components of the human nourishment, and the concentration of these constituents affecton liposoluble vitamins levels, such as vitamin A which takes part in biological processes of reproduction,in visual cycle and in cellular differentiation. As the cream cheese, made from molten milk, is considered thesource of this micronutrient, the retinol concentrations in cream cheese samples marketed in the city ofNatal, RN were investigated. Three units of each cream cheese kinds, that is, the whole type and skimmedtype from two brands (A and B) were purchased from a supermarket of that city. After processing theretinol extraction, its concentration was determined by means of high performance liquid chromatography.The average of retinol concentrations in cream cheese samples from two brands were 40.5 ± 0.7 and 14.3 ±4.5μg/100g in whole and skimmed samples from brand A (p<0.05), respectively, and 75.7 ± 3.51 and 26.3 ±2.52μg/100g in whole and skimmed types from brand B (p<0.05), respectively. The whole cream cheeseshowed higher concentration of retinol than the skimmed type, although the found retinol levels werelower than those values elsewhere reported. The retinol contents dissimilarity might occurs as no standardoperational protocol for cream cheese production has been available yet