Nutritional and technological potential of cactus fruits for insertion in human food

• Published in: Critical reviews in food science and nutrition Vol. 63; no. 19; pp. 4053 - 4069
• Main Authors: Cardoso, Patrick da Silva, da Silva, Itana Nascimento Brito, Ferreira-Ribeiro, Camila Duarte, Murowaniecki Otero, Deborah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis 2023; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Antimicrobial agents; antioxidant activity; Antioxidants; Bioactive compounds; Biological activity; Cacti; Food; Food technology; Fruits; new products; physicochemical characterization; Product development; Semi arid areas; Semiarid lands; unconventional food plants; new products; unconventional food plants; physicochemical characterization; Bioactive compounds; antioxidant activity
• ISSN: 1040-8398; 1549-7852
• DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2021.1997906

The Cactaceae family can be easily found in the arid and semiarid regions, with a significant waste of its potentials, being generally used as forage. Considering that much research have shown antioxidant properties and bioactive compounds in cacti species, this review aimed to review and discuss recent advances in physicochemical composition, bioactive compounds, and antioxidant activity of Cereus jamacaru, Melocactus zehntneri, Pilosocereus gounellei, Opuntia ficus-indica and Pilosocereus pachycladus fruits to investigate their food technology potential for new products development. These fruits have important amounts of micro, macronutrients, and bioactive compounds, which allow them a wide variety of uses, fresh or processed, and for industrial purposes for the production and extraction of compounds of interest (dyes, antioxidants, antimicrobials, etc.) as demonstrated in the literature. Furthermore, exploring the diversity of uses of these fruits can provide significant benefits from an economic, technological, social, environment, food, and nutritional security point of view.