Fresh juice of cocomerina pear an ancient and rare fruit with red pulp: a new source of polyphenols for human health

The aim of this study was to focus our attention on two ecotypes of an ancient variety of Pyrus communis recently rediscovered whose main feature is the reddish and/or red color pulp. There are two ecotypes of this pear that ripen in August and October, both of which are nowadays cultivated only in a small area of central Italy. Since it is known that the juices obtained by cold pressing maintain unaltered nutritional properties and are easy to prepare, it seemed interesting to examine, in both the ecotypes, the polyphenols, flavonoids and anthocyanins content. A greater concentration of these secondary metabolites in late type pear juice correlated with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity evaluated by DPPH, ORAC and 5I-Lipoxygenase assay, respectively, was shown. We can confirm that the fruits of cocomerina pear can be considered a new source of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. In fact, even the fresh juices, when compared to the extracts studied in our previous work, have shown antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. The results obtained allow us, therefore, to assume that the introduction of fresh juices obtained from this rediscovered variety of pear, may have positive implications for population health benefit.