Bioactive composition, antioxidant activities, and health benefits of selectedtropical horticultural fruit waste

This study sought to evaluate the potential benefits of tropical horticultural fruit waste, its bioactive composition, and possible reasons for its underutilization and to provide comparative knowledge that could be adopted for pharmaceutical, culinary, and therapeutic purposes. Guava seed was found to be richer in β-sitosterol as compared to extracts from the seeds of pawpaw, soursop, passion fruit, pumpkin, mango, grape, tomato, and orange. The sweetness-inducing effect of miraculin from “miracle fruit” and its effect on TAS1R3 and TAS1R2 taste receptors were evaluated. Upon a critical study of existing research data, this study has found the identification of bioactive composition and active ingredient as insufficient in boosting utilization of fruit waste and faulted the relatively low adoption of research findings by consumers and food processing to be due to limited research and awareness on possible methods of processing horticultural waste into readily available, commercializable forms.