Advanced Extraction Techniques for Bioactive Compounds from Berry Fruits: Enhancing Functional Food Applications

The modern functional food market is developing dynamically, responding to the growing demand for products combining nutritional and health-promoting values. At the center of this evolution are natural bio-organic extracts, rich in bioactive compounds such as antioxidants, polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, and vitamins, which can enrich traditional food products, including fruit juices, increasing their health-promoting values. The aim of the research was to compare the efficiency of extraction of bioactive compounds from various forms of plant raw material (dried, freeze-dried, frozen material) using innovative techniques: supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and accelerated solvent extraction (ASE). The research showed that the ASE method demonstrated higher extraction efficiency, in some cases exceeding 40%, whereas SFE exhibited superior selectivity, achieving higher carotenoid contents (105.59 mg/100 g in sea buckthorn powder) and antioxidant activity (234.67 µmol TEAC/g in black elderberry fruit). The use of advanced extraction techniques is a modern approach to juice production, in line with current trends in functional food and healthy eating, which can contribute to the prevention of lifestyle diseases.