Physicochemical Properties and Evaluation of Antioxidant Potential of Sugar Beet Pulp—Preliminary Analysis for Further Use (Future Prospects)

High content of pro-health constituents in fruit and vegetable pomaces has led to their utilization as raw materials in food production. They are used mostly in dried form, which is microbiologically stable and allows their storage throughout a longer period. Nevertheless, some materials of these kind are still undervalued, among them sugar beet pulp, which is produced during sugar production in large quantities, often posing an environmental threat, and has been traditionally used for feeding animals. Earlier studies on chemical composition suggested that sugar beet pulp could be highly valuable in terms of health-promoting aspects. Therefore, in this work, research was directed to prove the nutritional potential of this raw material. Thus, an attempt was made to characterize sugar beet pulp in terms of its nutritional and carbohydrate profile, as well as its health-promoting qualities, with particular emphasis on the effect of the extraction on the content of polyphenols and phenolic acids, flavonoids, flavonols, and also their antioxidant activity, measured by ABTS and FRAP methods. The soluble and insoluble fraction of dietary fiber and total dietary fiber were also determined in the pulp. It was found that sugar beet pulp is a valuable source of nutrients (around 10% protein, 7% fat, 8% sugar, 4% ash), dietary fiber (nearly 70%), and has significant amounts of sugars present as free saccharides (fructose and glucose) and polysaccharide residues (arabinose, galacturonic acid, rhamnose, and glucose). In addition, it is a source of polyphenols, flavonoids, and phenolic acids and has a high health-promoting potential regardless of the applied extraction method. Therefore, we may suggest that sugar beet pulp could become an ingredient for pro-health functional food.