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Non-Thermal Technologies as Tools to Increase the Content of Health-Promoting Compounds in Whole Fruits and Vegetables While Retaining Quality Attributes

Fruits and vegetables contain health-promoting compounds. However, their natural concentration in the plant tissues is low and in most cases is not sufficient to exert the expected pharmacological effects. The application of wounding stress as a tool to increase the content of bioactive compounds in...

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Autores principales: Jacobo-Velázquez, Daniel A., Benavides, Jorge
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8700192/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34945455
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods10122904
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author Jacobo-Velázquez, Daniel A.
Benavides, Jorge
author_facet Jacobo-Velázquez, Daniel A.
Benavides, Jorge
author_sort Jacobo-Velázquez, Daniel A.
collection PubMed
description Fruits and vegetables contain health-promoting compounds. However, their natural concentration in the plant tissues is low and in most cases is not sufficient to exert the expected pharmacological effects. The application of wounding stress as a tool to increase the content of bioactive compounds in fruits and vegetables has been well characterized. Nevertheless, its industrial application presents different drawbacks. For instance, during the washing and sanitizing steps post-wounding, the primary wound signal (extracellular adenosine triphosphate) that elicits the stress-induced biosynthesis of secondary metabolites is partially removed from the tissue. Furthermore, detrimental reactions that affect the quality attributes of fresh produce are also activated by wounding. Therefore, there is a need to search for technologies that emulate the wound response in whole fruits and vegetables while retaining quality attributes. Herein, the application of non-thermal technologies (NTTs) such as high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasound, and pulsed electric fields are presented as tools for increasing the content of health-promoting compounds in whole fruits and vegetables by inducing a wound-like response. The industrial implementation and economic feasibility of using NTTs as abiotic elicitors is also discussed. Whole fruits and vegetables with enhanced levels of bioactive compounds obtained by NTT treatments could be commercialized as functional foods.
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spelling pubmed-87001922021-12-24 Non-Thermal Technologies as Tools to Increase the Content of Health-Promoting Compounds in Whole Fruits and Vegetables While Retaining Quality Attributes Jacobo-Velázquez, Daniel A. Benavides, Jorge Foods Perspective Fruits and vegetables contain health-promoting compounds. However, their natural concentration in the plant tissues is low and in most cases is not sufficient to exert the expected pharmacological effects. The application of wounding stress as a tool to increase the content of bioactive compounds in fruits and vegetables has been well characterized. Nevertheless, its industrial application presents different drawbacks. For instance, during the washing and sanitizing steps post-wounding, the primary wound signal (extracellular adenosine triphosphate) that elicits the stress-induced biosynthesis of secondary metabolites is partially removed from the tissue. Furthermore, detrimental reactions that affect the quality attributes of fresh produce are also activated by wounding. Therefore, there is a need to search for technologies that emulate the wound response in whole fruits and vegetables while retaining quality attributes. Herein, the application of non-thermal technologies (NTTs) such as high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasound, and pulsed electric fields are presented as tools for increasing the content of health-promoting compounds in whole fruits and vegetables by inducing a wound-like response. The industrial implementation and economic feasibility of using NTTs as abiotic elicitors is also discussed. Whole fruits and vegetables with enhanced levels of bioactive compounds obtained by NTT treatments could be commercialized as functional foods. MDPI 2021-11-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8700192/ /pubmed/34945455 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods10122904 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Perspective
Jacobo-Velázquez, Daniel A.
Benavides, Jorge
Non-Thermal Technologies as Tools to Increase the Content of Health-Promoting Compounds in Whole Fruits and Vegetables While Retaining Quality Attributes
title Non-Thermal Technologies as Tools to Increase the Content of Health-Promoting Compounds in Whole Fruits and Vegetables While Retaining Quality Attributes
title_full Non-Thermal Technologies as Tools to Increase the Content of Health-Promoting Compounds in Whole Fruits and Vegetables While Retaining Quality Attributes
title_fullStr Non-Thermal Technologies as Tools to Increase the Content of Health-Promoting Compounds in Whole Fruits and Vegetables While Retaining Quality Attributes
title_full_unstemmed Non-Thermal Technologies as Tools to Increase the Content of Health-Promoting Compounds in Whole Fruits and Vegetables While Retaining Quality Attributes
title_short Non-Thermal Technologies as Tools to Increase the Content of Health-Promoting Compounds in Whole Fruits and Vegetables While Retaining Quality Attributes
title_sort non-thermal technologies as tools to increase the content of health-promoting compounds in whole fruits and vegetables while retaining quality attributes
topic Perspective
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8700192/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34945455
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods10122904
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