Juicy Gems of Nutrition: Exploring the Nutrient Profile and Antioxidant Activity of Rosaceae Fruits

Abstract

Fruit consumption provides valuable phenolic antioxidants and nutrients that are essential to subsidize consumers' health. The functional food value of many fruits belonging to the Rosaceae family is considerably high which is derived from their medicinal and nutritional attributes. This value contributes to the overall health and dietary practice of the consumer. Apples, pears, loquats, peaches, plums and apricots are some of the most desirable and economically viable members of this family. The present review aims a detailed evaluation of the nutritional composition, organic acid, sugar contents, and phenolic antioxidants of these beneficial fruits. Sucrose occurs in plum, loquat, peach and apricot fruits predominantly, in contrast, fructose was mainly present in apples and pears. The primary organic acids were citric, tartaric and malic acid in the tested fruits. The FRAP, TEAC and ORAC values were strongly correlated and almost similar to the total phenols (TP) in the extract of the tested samples. The phenolic acid assessment indicated that p-coumaric acid is the major compound in plums, apricot; gallic acid in loquat and caffeic acid in apple, peach and pear fruits. Overall, the results indicate that these Pakistani fruits contain significant levels of phenolic antioxidants and nutritionally valuable compounds, so they can be considered advantageous ingredients for the nutraceutical and food industry.