ETHNOBOTANICAL AND NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS, AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF FRUIT EXTRACTS OF THE GENUS Bromelia

Abstract

Plants of the Bromelia genus are distributed in Latin America, particularly in regions of the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. These plants are used as ornaments, medicines or food. These species produce berry-type fruits that develop by creation of a yellow or reddish, elongated or oval infructescence. From the nutritional perspective, these fruits have great potential as a good source of minerals like calcium, potassium and phosphorous, as well as vitamin C and cysteine proteases. Since pre-Hispanic times, the fruits of these species were used in traditional medicine to treat respiratory diseases and disorders of the urinary system, among others. Current research shows that extracts from fruit pulp have antimicrobial, anthelmintic, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activity, and these effects are attributed to secondary metabolites (phenols, saponins and terpenoids, etc.) and cysteine proteases. The proteolytic enzymes characterized in these fruits are similar to commercial plant proteases, and might be a potential alternative in the food and pharmaceutical industry. In this review we present the ethnobotanical uses, nutritional characteristics, biological activity and technological studies reported in extracts of fruits of the genus Bromelia.