Health promoting properties of Cactus products: Antioxidant activity

NAZARENO M. A.

Settat, Marruecos

Workshop; Le Cactus, une culture alternative pour le développement humain.; 2006

UNIC-ANADEC

Several studies relate the high consumption of fruit and vegetables with lower risk of heart conditions and some types of cancer suggesting that the beneficial effects of this diet is due to the antioxidant action of substances present in these kinds of food. Cactus fruits are true jewels of arid and semiarid climates. Their sweet and juice pulp has interesting medicinal properties attributed to the presence of antioxidant compounds such as flavonoids, ascorbic acid and betalains. The aim of this work was to evaluate the free radical scavenging ability (FRSA) of fruits of different cactus species: O. ficus-indica, commonly called prickly pear, O. crassa, O. robusta, Harrisia pomanesis known as ulúa, and Trichocereus pasacana or pasacana, and some processed products like jams and marmalades derived from these fruits: O. ficus-indica, O. robusta, Harrisia pomanesis, O. anacantha and Cereus validus known as Ucle. The FRSA determinations were carried out measuring the disappearance of the free radical DPPH by the action of extracts of the fresh fruits or their products. This technique was chosen because of its simplicity and versatility allowing the evaluation of highly sensitive compounds such as ascorbic acid facilitating its application to natural extract analysis. All the types of fruits analyzed presented a moderate antioxidant activity compared to other frequently consumed fruits such as banana, kiwi, apple, etc. and similar to citric ones and are a suitable ingredient to prepare jams and marmalades that retain this capacity. Therefore, these processed products analyzed can be considered as functional food available all the year long and are well-accepted by most consumers.