Functional compounds in dragon fruit peels and their potential health benefits: a review

Abstract

Summary Recovery of bioactive or functional compounds from fruit wastes is a current research trend, not only to lessen the waste disposal burden, but also to meet the increasing demand from the public for health‐beneficial plant‐based products. In this review, the main groups of functional compounds from dragon fruit peels including betalains, phenolics and dietary fibres are comprehensively scrutinised. The potential health benefits of these phytochemicals in individuals or in matrices are discussed, including antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, anti‐angiogenic, prebiotic, antibacterial, antiproliferative and cytotoxic activities, and blood lipid profile improvement. These analyses provide insights in the development of the products and bioactive compounds derived from dragon fruit peels for human consumption to prevent chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

The effect of ultrasound‐vacuum‐assisted extraction on bioactive properties of pitaya (Hylocereus undatus)

“…Both peel and flesh samples exhibited a decrease in total phenolic amounts after 5 min of sonication. Similar reduction in fruit juice with sonication for a long time was reported by Le & Le (2021). The exposing to ultrasound for a long time and high sonication wave could lead to form of the more reactive oxygen species, which oxidised the phenolics and caused loss of antioxidants (Yeoh & Ali, 2017).…”

“…For flesh of pitaya, the catechin contents reached their maximum levels when sonicated for 30 min under atmosphere condition (8.35 mg per 100 g), and sonicated for 5 min under vacuum (9.35 mg per 100 g). Ultrasound-assisted extraction had effect on phenolic compounds probably due to change in enzyme activities (Le & Le, 2021). Moreover, gallic acid content of flesh remained constant after sonication process.…”

“…Although these species were cultivated in Mexico, Central and South America (Omidizadeh et al ., 2011; Abd Manan et al ., 2019), they are nowadays commonly grown in many region of the world such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Taiwan (Kamairudin et al ., 2014). In addition to its aroma and attractive appearance, its beneficial effects on health have led to the rapid expansion of pitaya and increased interest in the fruit (Le, 2021). Pitaya composes of flesh (47.40–73.76%), peel (36.70–37.60%) and seed (2.70–14.67%), and these components have nutritional value, bioactive properties and also prebiotic properties (Jalgaonkar et al ., 2020; Joshi & Prabhakar, 2020).…”

The influence of the fortification of red pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) powder on the in vitro digestion, physical parameters, nutritional profile, polyphenols and antioxidant activity in the oat‐wheat bread

“…These bioactive compounds regulate glycaemic response, lipid accumulation in liver, reduce inflammation and growth of foodborne pathogens due to high radical scavenging abilities and modulation of gut microbiota (Song et al ., 2016; Zambrano et al ., 2019; Saenjum et al ., 2021). More recently, it has been found that pitaya fruit has beneficial effects on gut microbiota (Pansai et al ., 2020) owing to the presence of bioactive ingredients in its pulp or the outer parts (Le, 2021).…”

Bioaccessibility and bioavailability of food‐derived bioactive ingredients and their health‐promoting effects: editorial

“…In the modern fast‐paced life, improper diets result in an increasing incidence of many chronic metabolic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes caused by high‐sugar and high‐fat diet, and gout caused by high‐purine food. In recent years, there has been growing role and demand of food nutrition in human health (Le, 2021). Consumers no longer only pursue the characteristics of food itself, such as colour, aroma and taste, but pay more attention to its nutritional and health‐promoting properties.…”