{
  "abstract": "Vacuum concentration is widely used to reduce water content in plant-based beverages, yet it can simultaneously enrich soluble constituents and promote selective chemical alteration. How these competing processes reshape the molecular composition and quality of complex multi-herb beverages remains poorly understood. Here, we integrated time-resolved physicochemical, taste, antioxidant and untargeted metabolomic analyses to investigate the concentration of a yam-wolfberry beverage formulated from seven food-medicine botanicals. During vacuum concentration at 60 °C, quality attributes changed non-linearly over 0–240 min, with a marked transition occurring around 180 min. Total phenolic content and DPPH radical-scavenging activity reached their highest levels at this stage, whereas prolonged processing reduced soluble protein content and umami intensity; ABTS radical-scavenging activity increased throughout concentration. Untargeted UHPLC–MS/MS analysis identified 190 differentially accumulated metabolites between the unconcentrated and 180 min samples. Relative to the theoretical 1.84-fold concentration factor, 90 metabolites showed increases exceeding passive physical enrichment, 11 were consistent with concentration-driven enrichment, and 89 decreased despite water removal. Over-representation analysis of the increased metabolites highlighted aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, cyanoamino acid metabolism, D-amino acid metabolism, and phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis. These findings indicate that vacuum concentration induces stage-dependent quality changes through the combined effects of physical enrichment and selective metabolite remodeling, offering mechanistic insights for quality-oriented processing of complex botanical beverages.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Quality Research and Drug Innovation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Academy of Chinese Medicine Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China",
    "School of Food and Bioengineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Shu Luo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yi Song"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zhou Zhou"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xiaoyan Xu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Pushuang Gong"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Lin Tao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Xia Luo"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7fhb9bhrq2xxn.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/molecules31213916",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "7fhb9bhrq2xxn",
  "issns": [
    "1420-3049"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/31/21/3916",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-30",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7fhb9bhrq2xxn.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T00:20:49Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/molecules31213916",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/31/21/3916"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "issn:1420-3049",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Vacuum Concentration Induces Phytochemical Remodeling and Quality Transitions in a Multi-Botanical Yam-Wolfberry Beverage",
  "title_text": "Vacuum Concentration Induces Phytochemical Remodeling and Quality Transitions in a Multi-Botanical Yam-Wolfberry Beverage",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T00:20:47Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7fhb9bhrq2xxn",
  "venue": "Molecules",
  "versions": []
}