Vitamins in glass and PET bottles during storage

If you decide to buy water or fruit juice at the grocery store, you can usually choose between a PET (plastic) and a glass package. In a French study, Bacigalupi et al. (2015) examined the changes of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), beta-carotene and a-tocopherol (vitamin E) in fruit juice enriched with vitamins stored in glass and PET bottles. After 3 months, the vitamin C content in PET bottles was decreased by 72% and in glass bottles by 54%. Tocopherol, on the other hand, was barely changed and beta-carotene was hardly found after 80 days in both packages. The still present concentration of beta-carotene isomers was higher in glass bottles. Based upon these results the researchers concluded that during the period of storage the fruit juice in glass bottles contained more antioxidants and may be a better choice from a nutritional perspective. The findings of this study can be found in the journal Food Control.

Sources

• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956713515301274