## 3 Results and Discussion
### Antioxidant Profile during Fermentation (SF and SC) in Cocoa Beans
Similarly, the AA value by FRAP decreased from 249.0 and 283.0 umolFe\({}^{2+}\)/100 g to 20.8 and 62.7 umolFe\({}^{2+}\)/100 g for SF and SC, respectively, which is in agreement with that reported by [PERSON] et al. [29]. In our study, it is clear that the fermentation process affects AA (\(p\) < 0.05) [76], which is accompanied by a decrease in polyphenols [52]. Regarding the activity by DPPH and ABTS, the values were lower in fermentations with starter culture compared to SF, since yeast species such as _S. cerevisiae_, according to [PERSON] et al. [54], could influence the enzymatic hydrolysis, generating a low free radical scavenging activity. Figure 4: Conf. Figure 4: Principal component analysis (PCA) and K-means in cocoa bean spontaneous fermentation: (a) K-means clustering shows three stages according to the antioxidant profile variables: (b) Mean values of the antioxidant profile variables in each cluster; (c) Bipolar of principal components analysis of the antioxidant profile variables; (d) Principal component analysis (PCA) of the fermentation times based on the contribution of each observation. Antioxidant profile variables were TPC, activity antioxidant (by DPPH, ATS and TRAP), anthocyanin content (ACC), Havana-3-okes epictochehn and catechchin), and methylkhamines (theochemine and caffeine). The data used are reported in Table 1. Statistical analyses were performed using RMarkdown software (BStudio, version 2022.07.2+57b). Figure 5: Cont. Figure 5: Principal component analysis (PCA) and K-means in cocoa been fermentation with starter culture: (**a**) K-means clustering shows three stages according to the antioxidant profile variables; (**b**) Mean values of the antioxidant profile variables in each cluster; (**c**) Bigplot of principal components analysis of the antioxidant profile variables; (**d**) Principal component analysis (PCA) of the fermentation times based on the contribution of each observation. Antioxidant profile variables were TPC, activity antioxidant (by DPPH, ABTS and FRAP), anthocyanin content (AC), Havan-3-des epicatechin and catechin), and methylxanthines (thebroomine and caffeine). The data used are reported in Table 1. Statistical analyses were performed using RMarkdown software (RStudio, version 2022.07.2+576). [PERSON] et al. [10] and [PERSON] et al. [20] point out that epicatechin and catechin are flavian-3-ols that contribute to cocoa OA because they are considered bioactive [15] together with proanthocyanidin and anthocyanins. In our study (Tables 1 and 2), a decrease in epicatechin content was observed in SF and SC, which were 30.4-1.46 mg/g and 24.4-3.11 mg/g, respectively. These values are within the range reported by [PERSON] et al. [10] and [PERSON] et al. [78], where epicatechin is generally between 1.17 and 41.73 mg/g, being a monomer with higher bioavailability [53]. Epicatechin is the main monomer in the cocoa beans, which at the beginning of fermentation shows high concentrations in SF (21.7 mg/g) and with starter culture (23.3 mg/g), which are far from previous studies by [PERSON] et al. [29]; these values are reduced by more than 50% after 168 h. Time is a significant factor in its reduction (\(p<0.05\)) [29; 37; 79], which could be due to diffusion outside the cotyled [10; 37; 80]. Catechin presented a maximum concentration in SF (0.96 mg/g) and SC (0.93 mg/g), which was the lowest concentration concerning the quantified metabolites; on the other hand, as expected, epicatechin showed higher values [28; 80], contrary to what was reported by [PERSON] et al. [29], [PERSON] et al. [78] and [PERSON] et al. [76]. Moreover, it was observed that catechin concentrations were higher at the beginning and gradually decreased during the fermentation process until they completely disappeared by 48 h (SF) and 72 h (SC). The reduction in catechin during fermentation is consistent with what has been reported by [PERSON] et al. [79], [PERSON] et al. [29], and [PERSON] et al. [76], where time (\(p<0.05\)) is an influential factor [76].