2.3. Test Products
DECAY
The test products are made on leftover aronia pulp from juice production and kindly provided by the company Elkærholm (Egtved, Denmark). To reduce variations in the test products’ antioxidant potential due to differences in cultivation conditions, all test products were based on berries harvested at the same time and location. In order to make the aronia pulp extract edible, snack bars consisting of aronia, raisins, and coconut oil were produced. For FAE and AE, a daily dose was composed of 34 g of either fermented or non-fermented aronia, 55 g of raisins, and 3 g of coconut oil. In the placebo bars, aronia pulp was substituted with 17 g of wheat bran and 5 g of liquid (water and colorants). The anthocyanin concentration in both fermented and non-fermented aronia was assessed by Elkærholm using HPLC, which measured the combined concentrations of cyanidin-3-galactoside, cyanidin-3-arabinoside, and cyanidin-3-glucoside. A daily dose of 34 g of fermented aronia contained 893 mg of anthocyanins, while the same quantity of non-fermented aronia provided 533 mg of anthocyanins.HPLC measurements were made on berries harvested in 2018, whereas berries from 2019 were used for the test products. The pH differential method was used to determine the relative cyanidin-3-glucoside concentration in both fermented and non-fermented aronia made from berries harvested in both 2018 and 2019. The cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalent anthocyanin concentration was higher in the aronia pulp extract from berries from 2019 than in 2018, by 3.3 and 2.12 times for non-fermented and fermented aronia, respectively. It should be emphasized that natural decay during storage undoubtedly contributed to this difference.Energy contents of the test products were measured by Eurofins Steins Laboratorium (Vejen, Denmark). The nutritional composition of the three test products was comparable as outlined in 