The strawberry is a pseudo-fruit highly appreciated by the Brazilian population, and its growing has been being established in the region of Lavras. It is a functional food, because in addition to its nutritional properties, it also has active substances, which maintain or improve the health of the human organism. The aim of this work was to evaluate a few compounds of the strawberry, which have beneficial effects to human health in different cultivars of the region of Lavras-MG. It was used the completely randomized design with three treatments and seven replicates of five fruits each. A hundred and fifty fruits from three cultivars, 'Aroma', 'Oso Grande' and 'Toyorrinho' were harvested; those were selected according to the maturation stage and absence of injuries. The compounds evaluated were vitamin C, phenolic compounds and minerals, among them potassium, calcium and zinc. Among the three cultivars, 'Aroma' was the most stood out in relation to vitamin C and potassium, the cultivate 'Oso Grande' received the greatest levels of calcium, iron, manganese, zinc and copper and 'Toyorrinho' presented the most inferor functional levels of the studied compounds.
strawberries; cultivars; vitamin C; minerals and phenolic compounds
