Nutritional, medicinal and cosmetic aspects of Opuntia ficus-indica

NAZARENO MÓNICA A

Evora

Conferencia; IV Universidad Internacional Itinerante de Figo da India, Fourth Internacional Itinerant University of Cactus; 2022

Confraria do figo da india, Portugal

The nutritional and medicinal properties of cactus products awakened great interest lately from the scientific and industrial sectors as they are good sources of health-promoting substances.Cactus plants have been utilized for centuries to cure diseases and heal wounds for thousands of years. Cactus cladodes, fruits, seeds, and flowers have been used as folk medicines in several countries. Cladodes have also been used in many countries to take advantage of their wound healing and cicatrizing properties. Fresh cactus cladode has been traditionally consumed for its nutritional qualities and depurative properties, to treat gastric ulcers and indigestion. Emollient and moisturizing effects have also been well known. Cactus fruits and their juices have been recommended in popular medicine due to their diuretic effect, anti-allergic, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory activity, for indigestion treatment and to relieve hangover symptoms. The infusions of cactus flower petals have been used in folk medicine to treat urological problems.Such properties, known by ancient civilizations, have gained interest among the scientific community in recent years. Their fruits, cladodes, seeds, and flowers have been analyzed from the chemical point of view; results show that they are good sources of nutrients and other active phytochemicals, which can exert such medicinal properties.Recent scientific investigations confirmed that cactus products are good sources of bioactive phytochemicals, such as mucilage, fibers, vitamins, pigments, and flavonoids. Nowadays, there is increasing evidence that these phytochemicals may have beneficial effects on consumers´ health beyond their nutritive action. An overview of the latest reports shows a remarkable increase in scientific studies concerning the medicinal properties of cactus products during the last decades. Several studies have demonstrated that the intake of cactus extracts significantly reduced oxidative-stress markers in patients. This action has been ascribed to the antioxidant capacity of cactus fruits and cladodes. They can be used to take benefit from their functionality and to add value to industrialized cactus products.Traditional uses of cactus products for healing and preventive actions will be described, as well as the latest advances in scientific studies and discoveries related to the most active components, their analysis, and identification. Some examples of functional foods and nutraceuticals and cosmetic products prepared from cacti, which are currently available on the market, will be presented. The high content of dietary fibers of nopal pad powder could be an interesting source of these important components for human diets as dietary supplements. Functional food includes whole foods and fortified, as well as enriched or enhanced in a dietary component, that may reduce the risk of chronic disease and provide a health benefit beyond the traditional nutrients it contains. Several manufactured products are currently available in the Functional-food market as biscuits, tortillas, cereal bars mixed with flaxseed, soups, snacks, and toasts. Cosmeceutical is a product that possesses both cosmetic and pharmaceutical properties; it has bioactive ingredients alleged to have medical benefits. The cosmetic industry uses this word to refer to cosmetic products that have medicinal or drug-like benefits. Opuntia seed oil has this feature and some of its main applications are being developed by the cosmetic industry. The seed oil is valued at a very high price as organic oil for anti-aging action and anti-wrinkle purposes. Further studies about cactus functional products are needed to improve their transfer to a technological scale to gain competitiveness and market positioning against other traditional foods already settled in the consumer preferences.