Abstract
Averrhoa carambola L. (star fruit) is an edible fruit that is extensively cultivated in southern China, Southeast Asia, India, and northern South America. It has a sweet and juicy taste and is frequently used in fruit salads and fruit platters, as a garnish in cocktail drinks and beverages, or squeezed into juice and served as a beverage. Traditionally, it has been used for treating diabetes and diabetic nephropathy, arthralgia, vomiting, lithangiuria, coughing, hangovers, and chronic paroxysmal headache for thousands of years. Currently, approximately 132 compounds have been isolated from A. carambola. Among them, flavonoids, benzoquinone, and their glycosides have been considered as biologically active substances, which are responsible for various biological activities. Pharmacological studies have revealed that crude extracts or monomeric compounds from A. carambola exhibit multiple bioactivities, such as anti-oxidant, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-obesity, anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, anti-hypertensive, neuroprotective, and others. Thus, A. carambola is a valuable treatment in Chinese medicine with therapeutic potential for multiple diseases, especially diabetes and diabetes-related diseases. Even though it is a very promising candidate in the development of functional food and the pharmaceutical industry, reports on its bioactivities have only been conducted in vivo and in vitro and there is a gap in research regarding clinical settings and safety. This review therefore provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of current progress on botany, ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicity of A. carambola, providing a valuable reference for further developments and applications of A. carambola in the pharmaceutical industry and functional food.
Highlights
Averrhoa carambola L., commonly known as carambola or star fruit, is a perennial tree in the family Oxalidaceae (Figure 1)
As a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the roots, fruits, and leaves of A. carambola have been increasingly recognized as an effective herbal medicine in invigorating kidney function and reinforcing Yang and is used for the treatment of various ailments with a long history (World Health Organization and Regional Office for the Western Pacific, 2007; Wei et al, 2018)
TGF-β1, Smad2, and Smad3 levels did not increase in the TLR4−/− mice with significance when compared with healthy mice (Zhang et al, 2020). These findings strongly suggest that TLR4 is critical for DMDD’s protective activity against renal insufficiency in diabetic mice, and hypoglycemic and antifibrosis properties could be regulated by the TLR4/TGF signaling pathway
Summary
Averrhoa carambola L., commonly known as carambola or star fruit, is a perennial tree in the family Oxalidaceae (Figure 1). Slightly tart, acidic, and sweet in the taste It is star-shaped and golden-yellow in appearance and is frequently used in the preparation of fruit salads and fruit platters, as a garnish in cocktails and beverages, or squeezed into a juice and served as a functional beverage. It is used in jellies, ice creams, preserves, and sweets owing to its high moisture content and highly perishability, especially in tropical regions such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia (Valim et al, 2016; Chua et al., 2017; Huynh and Nguyen, 2017; Jia et al, 2018; Lu et al., 2018). The review is helpful for researchers by providing a comprehensive understanding of this increasingly important herb and provides a scientific basis for further study and exploitation of medicinal agents or functional food from A. carambola in the future
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