Characteristic Components, Biological Activities and Future Prospective of Fructus Mori: a Review

Abstract

China has a long history in planting mulberry with the most varieties and the largest production in the world. This article provides a brief overview of an important edible fruit and traditional medicine in China—Fructus Mori (FM, mulberry fruit or Morus alba L. fruit), including the main chemical constituents, major bioactivities and the future prospective. Phytochemical studies have revealed that Fructus Mori contains a great diversity of nutritive compounds such as organic acids, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and bioactive components, including polysaccharides, polyphenolics, anthocyanins, flavonoids, alkaloids, stilbenes, and diels-alder type adducts. Besides, the extracts and active components of FM were reported to have numerous biological activities, including antioxidant, antihyperglycemic, antitumor, hepatoprotective, and neuroprotective activities in in vitro and in vivo studies. This review provides recent findings systematically regarding the structural characteristics and biological activities of FM, which may be useful for stimulating deep research of therapeutic potentials and for predicting their uses as important and safe functional foods to benefit human health.