Fruit waste: a current perspective for the sustainable production of pharmacological, nutraceutical, and bioactive resources

Shankar Prasad Sha; Debabrata Modak; Sourav Sarkar; Sudipta Kumar Roy; Sumit Prasad Sah; Kriti Ghatani; Soumen Bhattacharjee

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1260071

Fruit waste: a current perspective for the sustainable production of pharmacological, nutraceutical, and bioactive resources

Front Microbiol. 2023 Oct 24:14:1260071. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1260071. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Shankar Prasad Sha^#¹, Debabrata Modak^#², Sourav Sarkar^#², Sudipta Kumar Roy^#², Sumit Prasad Sah¹, Kriti Ghatani³, Soumen Bhattacharjee²

Affiliations

¹ Food Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Kurseong College, Kurseong, India.
² Cell and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of North Bengal, Raja Rammohunpur, India.
³ Food Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Food Technology, University of North Bengal, Raja Rammohunpur, India.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Fruits are crucial components of a balanced diet and a good source of natural antioxidants, that have proven efficacy in various chronic illnesses. Various kinds of waste generated from fruit industries are considered a global concern. By utilizing this fruit waste, the international goal of "zero waste" can be achieved by sustainable utilization of these waste materials as a rich source of secondary metabolites. Moreover, to overcome this waste burden, research have focused on recovering the bioactive compounds from fruit industries and obtaining a new strategy to combat certain chronic diseases. The separation of high-value substances from fruit waste, including phytochemicals, dietary fibers, and polysaccharides which can then be used as functional ingredients for long-term health benefits. Several novel extraction technologies like ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) could provide an alternative approach for successful extraction of the valuable bioactives from the fruit waste for their utilization as nutraceuticals, therapeutics, and value-added products. Most of these waste-derived secondary metabolites comprise polyphenols, which have been reported to have anti-inflammatory, insulin resistance-treating, cardiovascular disease-maintaining, probiotics-enhancing, or even anti-microbial and anti-viral capabilities. This review summarizes the current knowledge of fruit waste by-products in pharmacological, biological, and probiotic applications and highlights several methods for identifying efficacious bioactive compounds from fruit wastes.

Keywords: bioactive compounds; diseases; fruit wastes; nutraceuticals; pharmacological potential; secondary metabolites.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. SSh gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for granting research project “SRG/2021/002035,” 30 December 2021. Co-authors also acknowledge the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Human Resource Development group and University of North Bengal for granting the Junior Research Fellowship to SS [CSIR-JRF sanction no. 09/285(0094)/2019-EMR-I, 3 March 2020]; SR [CSIR-JRF sanction no. 09/285(0088)/2019-EMR-I, 7 October 2019], and Institutional Fellowship to DM [University fellowship no. 259/R-2018, 5 July 2018].