2.1. Test Products
DECAY
The study design and test product composition have been described in detail previously [The group receiving fermented aronia extract will be referred to as FAE and the group receiving non-fermented aronia extract as AE. The aronia extracts were based on aronia berry pulp. The FAE and AE groups were supplemented with snack bars that administered approximately 893 mg or 533 mg anthocyanins, respectively, per day. Measurements on anthocyanin content were made by Elkaerholm (Egtved, Denmark) prior to the study, and since anthocyanins decay over time, the amount of provided anthocyanins might have decreased towards the end of the study. In order to minimize the decay, the supplements were stored in the dark at −18 °C. The nutritional composition is outlined in 