Cacti are known for their minimum water requirement. They grow extensively in arid lands, where they were traditionally used for both human and animal food. Opuntia ficus-indica, commonly referred to as prickly pear or nopal cactus, was known as a medicinal plant, owing to its rich composition in polyphenols, vitamins, polyunsaturated fatty acids and amino acids. This makes cactus pear a promising crop for commercial food applications. Recent scientific investigations showed thatcactus products may be efficiently used as a source of foods additives, mainly fibre, colorants and antioxidants. Tablets, cookies and other forms of fibre derived from cactus cladodes are currently marketed in severalAmerican countries. This review details the main functional phytochemicals characterizing different tissues of Opuntia ficus-indica.
| Published in | Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 6) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.jfns.20160406.14 |
| Page(s) | 162-169 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Opuntia ficus-indica, Cladodes, Antioxidants, Polyphenols, Betalains
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APA Style
Imen Belhadj Slimen, Taha Najar, Manef Abderrabba. (2016). Opuntia ficus-indica as a Source of Bioactive and Nutritional Phytochemicals. Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences, 4(6), 162-169. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20160406.14
ACS Style
Imen Belhadj Slimen; Taha Najar; Manef Abderrabba. Opuntia ficus-indica as a Source of Bioactive and Nutritional Phytochemicals. J. Food Nutr. Sci. 2016, 4(6), 162-169. doi: 10.11648/j.jfns.20160406.14
AMA Style
Imen Belhadj Slimen, Taha Najar, Manef Abderrabba. Opuntia ficus-indica as a Source of Bioactive and Nutritional Phytochemicals. J Food Nutr Sci. 2016;4(6):162-169. doi: 10.11648/j.jfns.20160406.14
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Download@article{10.11648/j.jfns.20160406.14,
author = {Imen Belhadj Slimen and Taha Najar and Manef Abderrabba},
title = {Opuntia ficus-indica as a Source of Bioactive and Nutritional Phytochemicals},
journal = {Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences},
volume = {4},
number = {6},
pages = {162-169},
doi = {10.11648/j.jfns.20160406.14},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20160406.14},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfns.20160406.14},
abstract = {Cacti are known for their minimum water requirement. They grow extensively in arid lands, where they were traditionally used for both human and animal food. Opuntia ficus-indica, commonly referred to as prickly pear or nopal cactus, was known as a medicinal plant, owing to its rich composition in polyphenols, vitamins, polyunsaturated fatty acids and amino acids. This makes cactus pear a promising crop for commercial food applications. Recent scientific investigations showed thatcactus products may be efficiently used as a source of foods additives, mainly fibre, colorants and antioxidants. Tablets, cookies and other forms of fibre derived from cactus cladodes are currently marketed in severalAmerican countries. This review details the main functional phytochemicals characterizing different tissues of Opuntia ficus-indica.},
year = {2016}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Opuntia ficus-indica as a Source of Bioactive and Nutritional Phytochemicals AU - Imen Belhadj Slimen AU - Taha Najar AU - Manef Abderrabba Y1 - 2016/12/23 PY - 2016 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20160406.14 DO - 10.11648/j.jfns.20160406.14 T2 - Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences JF - Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences JO - Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences SP - 162 EP - 169 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-7293 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20160406.14 AB - Cacti are known for their minimum water requirement. They grow extensively in arid lands, where they were traditionally used for both human and animal food. Opuntia ficus-indica, commonly referred to as prickly pear or nopal cactus, was known as a medicinal plant, owing to its rich composition in polyphenols, vitamins, polyunsaturated fatty acids and amino acids. This makes cactus pear a promising crop for commercial food applications. Recent scientific investigations showed thatcactus products may be efficiently used as a source of foods additives, mainly fibre, colorants and antioxidants. Tablets, cookies and other forms of fibre derived from cactus cladodes are currently marketed in severalAmerican countries. This review details the main functional phytochemicals characterizing different tissues of Opuntia ficus-indica. VL - 4 IS - 6 ER -
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