Abstract
Fruits are an excellent source of essential vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber in the human diet. They are also a rich source of secondary metabolites that proving to play an important role in protection against numerous chronic diseases. These substances are almost ubiquitous in plant-derived foods and inherently have more subtle effects than nutrients. Carotenoids and flavonoids, the mostly spread secondary metabolites in fruits, have received much attention over the past decade due to their putative health-protective effects. A significant portion of the fruits consumed are processed and many of the processed products are stored in a variety of packaging materials for extended periods of time prior to consumption. Bioactive compounds that are naturally present in fruits may undergo transformations during food processing that neither decrease their nutritional value nor bioactive value but may increase it by favoring their absorption and metabolism in the human body. Thus, in this chapter there is a significant need to understand how the different processing methods used in the food industry may modify their contents, structure, and biological activity in humans.