Moringa plants: Bioactive compounds and promising applications in food products

Abstract

Moringa plants have an extensive range of bioactive compounds that can be obtained from different vegetative structures, such as leaves, seeds, stems and pod husks. These bioactive molecules include carbohydrates, phenolic compounds, oils and fatty acids, proteins and functional peptides and have great potential to be used in several formulations of food products. This report collects recent information concerning bioactive molecules in other species of the Moringaceae family, different from Moringa oleifera. Thus, this document aims to describe these bioactive compounds and their functional properties on foodstuffs. In addition, more suitable methodologies applied for their extraction and characterization are reviewed. Finally, an overview of patents required to protect Moringa-derived products and processes is provided.

Keywords: Bioactive compounds; Extraction methods; Functional applications; Moringa plants.