Therapeutic and Nutraceutical Potential of Bioactive Compounds
The growing interest in the substitution of synthetic food antioxidants by natural ones has fostered research in identifying new low-cost antioxidants having commercial potential. Fruits such as mango, banana, and those belonging to the citrus family leave behind a substantial amount of residues in the form of peels, pulp, seeds, and stones. Due to lack of infrastructure to handle a huge quantity of available biomass, lack of processing facilities, and high processing cost, these residues represent a major disposal problem, especially in developing countries. Because of the presence of phenolic compounds, which impart nutraceutical properties to fruit residues, such residues hold tremendous potential in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. The biological properties such as anti-carcinogenicity, antimutagenicity, anti-allergenicity, and anti-ageing activity have been reported for both natural as well as synthetic antioxidants. Special attention is focused on extraction of bioactive compounds from inexpensive or residual sources.
In food and beverages, phenolic compounds are associated with sensory attributes such as colour, bitterness, and astringency. Several reports have convincingly shown that the phenolic compounds have strong antioxidant properties as oxygen scavengers, peroxide decomposers, metal chelating agents, and free radical inhibitors. Antioxidants are substances that delay or prevent the oxidation of cellular oxidizable substrates. Natural antioxidants present in foods and other biological material shave attracted considerable interest because of their presumed safety and potential nutritional and therapeutic values.
Reference:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262976952_Therapeutic_and_Nutraceutical_Potential_