Potential Application of Native Fruit Wastes from Argentina as Nonconventional Sources of Functional Ingredients

MARÍA INÉS ISLA; FLORENCIA CATTANEO; MARÍA EUGENIA ORQUEDA; MARÍA ALEJANDRA MORENO; JORGELINA PÉREZ; IVANA FABIOLA RODRIGUEZ; FLORENCIA MARÍA CORREA URIBURU; SEBASTIÁN TORRES; IRIS CATIANA ZAMPINI

Applied Environmental Science and Engineering for a Sustainable Future

Springer

Año: 2020; p. 173 - 190

The disposal of a large number of waste materials results in high costs forthe food industry and can have a negative environmental impact. Metabolites, suchas phenolic compounds, fibers, and proteins obtained from vegetable by-products orwaste biomass could be used as ingredients in the formulation of new functionalfoods. Argentine native fruits (chilto, algarrobo, and mistol) were used as food(edible fleshy fruits, sweets, flours, juices, pulp, and beverages) by different localcommunities and some of them have now been industrialized. In fact, fruit industrialprocessing has, as a consequence, the production of large amounts of wastes, mainlypeels or skin, pomace, and seeds. Phenolic enriched extracts (benzoic and cinnamicacids and derivatives; phenylpropanoid acids; C-glycosyl flavones; anthocyanins,among others) obtained from Argentinean native fruit wastes were able to modulatethe metabolism of lipids and carbohydrates in the gastrointestinal tract (GT) throughenzymes inhibition (lipase, amylase, and glucosidase), regulate oxidative processesand inflammatory pathologies, so these extracts could be considered functionalingredients. Furthermore, these phenolic extracts were used to develop zein matrixmicrocapsules and coating structures based on zein fibers that could be optimized tofood package. Proteins and protein hydrolysates obtained from carob tree seeds werealso antioxidants and inhibitors of pro-inflammatory enzymes and improve vascularfunction in a rabbit model of high fat diet-induced metabolic syndrome. Thus,Argentinean native fruit wastes have the potential to be a novel renewable, sustainable,and low-cost raw material for the production of several value-added products.