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

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

Book-19 Non-biological Approaches for the Valorization of Agro-Industrial Waste.

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, such as phenolic compounds, fibers, and proteins obtained from vegetable by-products or waste biomass could be used as ingredients in the formulation of new functional foods. Argentine native fruits (chilto, algarrobo, and mistol) were used as food (edible fleshy fruits, sweets, flours, juices, pulp, and beverages) by different local communities and some of them have now been industrialized. In fact, fruit industrial processing has, as a consequence, the production of large amounts of wastes, mainly peels or skin, pomace, and seeds. Phenolic enriched extracts (benzoic and cinnamic acids and derivatives; phenylpropanoid acids; C-glycosyl flavones; anthocyanins, among others) obtained from Argentinean native fruit wastes were able to modulate the metabolism of lipids and carbohydrates in the gastrointestinal tract (GT) through enzymes inhibition (lipase, amylase, and glucosidase), regulate oxidative processes and inflammatory pathologies, so these extracts could be considered functional ingredients. Furthermore, these phenolic extracts were used to develop zein matrix microcapsules and coating structures based on zein fibers that could be optimized to food package. Proteins and protein hydrolysates obtained from carob tree seeds werealso antioxidants and inhibitors of pro-inflammatory enzymes and improve vascular function 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.