India is one of the largest producers of fruits and vegetables in the world. These are rich sources of bioactive compounds which provide health benefits and also possess antioxidant therapeutic value. A large portion of fruits and vegetables goes unutilized in the form of pulp and peels after the extraction of juice in food processing industries. This contains a large number of bioactive compounds. The compounds like phenolic compounds, flavonoids and carotenoids are ubiquitously present in fruits, vegetables and their by-products. These compounds have antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, antiviral, antitumor and many more activities to a greater or lesser extent. This review focuses on the bioactive compounds present in fruits, vegetables and their by-products along with their classification and importance in day to day life. A further aim of this review is to discuss various techniques employed in the extraction of bioactive compounds from plant products. The antioxidant activity of various fruits and vegetables based on DPPH radical scavenging methods has also been reported in this work.
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