NUTRITIONAL AND FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF NATIVE FRUITS OF ARGENTINA. REVALORIZATION AND USE IN THE DESIGN OF FUNCTIONAL FOODS.

ISLA M.I; ZAMPINI I.C; ALBERTO M. R.; ORDOÑEZ R.M; CUELLO S; TORRES S; SAYAGO J

PUERTO VARAS

Congreso; 14th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY; 2014

The aim of this project is the study of nutritional and functional benefits of fruits from Argentinean Northwestern as well as its relation with the chemical composition. The fruits of some leguminoses such as Prosopis species are used by aborigens in food and the Prosopis flour was introduced to "Codigo alimentario argentino". Other fruits of our region attractive for their potential applications in the food industry are the " mistol " ( Ziziphus mistol ) recently joined to the list of edible fruits of the Código Alimentario Argentino , the " tree tomato " (Solanum betaceum ), the " mato " (Myrcianthes pungens ), " chañar " ( Geoffroea decorticans ), some cactus fruits ( Opuntia, Rhypsalis ) , among others. All of them arel popularly used since several years ago as edible ( in fruit salads , juices and as candy, jellies, houses and other regional products ) by different aboriginal and rural communities and whose virtues are now being rediscovered. Recently, we demonstrated that some fruits from plants native of NOA have nutritional and functional properties and can be exploited for designing functional food.