Vacuum Concentration Induces Phytochemical Remodeling and Quality Transitions in a Multi-Botanical Yam-Wolfberry Beverage
- 1Quality Research and Drug Innovation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Academy of Chinese Medicine Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China
- 2School of Food and Bioengineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China
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.
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BibTeX
@article{luo2026vacuum,
title = {{Vacuum Concentration Induces Phytochemical Remodeling and Quality Transitions in a Multi-Botanical Yam-Wolfberry Beverage}},
author = {Shu Luo and Yi Song and Zhou Zhou and Xiaoyan Xu and Pushuang Gong and Lin Tao and Xia Luo},
journal = {Molecules},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/molecules31213916},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/31/21/3916},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Vacuum Concentration Induces Phytochemical Remodeling and Quality Transitions in a Multi-Botanical Yam-Wolfberry Beverage
AU - Shu Luo
AU - Yi Song
AU - Zhou Zhou
AU - Xiaoyan Xu
AU - Pushuang Gong
AU - Lin Tao
AU - Xia Luo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Molecules
DO - 10.3390/molecules31213916
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/31/21/3916
AB - 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.
SN - 1420-3049
ER -