By-Products of Camu-Camu [Myrciaria dubia (Kunth) McVaugh] as Promising Sources of Bioactive High Added-Value Food Ingredients

Camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia (Kunth) McVaugh), also known as caçari and araçá d’água, is a tropical fruit belonging to the Myrtaceae family, often found in flooded regions of the Amazon rainforest [1]. Its round berries are about 2.5 cm in diameter, containing one to four seeds. The fruit possess a red-to-purple bright pericarp and a very tart acid, juicy, and pink mesocarp [2]. A member of the so-called group of super fruits, camu-camu is known by its superlative ascorbic acid content (up to 2.780 mg per 100 g of fresh fruit) and by its content of other bioactive molecules such as anthocyanins (cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and delphinidin-3-O-glucoside), flavonols (myricetin, quercetin), ellagic acid, ellagitannins, proanthocyanidins, and carotenoids (lutein, β-carotene, violaxanthin and luteoxanthin) [1,3,4]. These phytochemicals display neutralizing properties of reactive species related to anti-obesogenic, hypolipidemic, anti-inflammatory, anti-genotoxic, and neuroprotective outcomes have been verified in in vitro and in vivo experiments, as well as clinical trials [4,5,6,7,8].

Myrciaria dubia is economically relevant to the Amazon region, as it grows in low-value areas that are usually inadequate for crops of other species [5]. Due to its very high acidity, the camu-camu fruit is not consumed in natura. Instead, it is used in the form of juices, purees, and mostly pulp, applied in beverage production and as a food ingredient [5,9]. The industrial processing of M. dubia pulp generates by-products, which create an environmental problem. Considering that up to 40% of the fruit mass is composed of seeds and peels, in the past years, studies have been carried out, aiming to reduce the environmental impact and economically exploit these abundant by-products. There has been previous work on the biological activities of camu-camu by-products [10], including its anticancer potential [5], as well as on strategies for the recovery of polyphenols from these materials [11].

Natural extracts with antioxidant properties can be employed as substitutes for artificial additives and also display a potential role in the prevention of diseases related to oxidative stress [12]. In the same way, the antimicrobial properties of some active phytochemicals could delay or inhibit the growth of pathogenic and/or toxin-producing microorganisms in food, thus avoiding both foodborne diseases and food spoilage [13]. Therefore, natural extracts can combine the functions of preservative and functionalizing additive, while simultaneously improving the food stability and nutritional value [14].

Following the sustainability principles implemented in today’s society, new high-added-value compounds are being recovered from agri-food by-products and applied in the development of food ingredients with preserving capacity, thereby promoting resource-use efficiency and circularity [15]. Despite the functional attributes verified for the M. dubia by-products [9,11,16,17], their exploitation as food additives is still very limited [11].

 

References

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