Tropical Fruits: Bioactive Properties and Health Promoting Benefits in Chronic Disease Prevention and Management
Israel Okpunyi Acham *
Centre for Food Technology and Research, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria.
Samuel Ahemen
Centre for Food Technology and Research, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria and Department of Agricultural Engineering, Akperan Orshi College of Agriculture, Yandev-Gboko, Benue State, Nigeria.
Moses Terkula Ukeyima
Centre for Food Technology and Research, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria and Department of Food Science and Technology, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria.
Abraham Tartenger Girgih
Centre for Food Technology and Research, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria and Department of Food Science and Technology, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Chronic disease conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, obesity and oxidative stress continue to be a significant concern among nations of the world, which is threatening the economic and social prosperity of the people. This calls for urgent action among relevant stakeholders to explore productive and sustainable ways of addressing the incidence of these life-threatening health conditions. While medicines have been used in the treatment and management of chronic diseases, its adverse side effects over time leave much to be desired. This calls for a novel and safer approach. Tropical fruits contain a rich repository of bioactive compounds. Reports from several studies in literature indeed showed that bioactive compounds present in tropical fruits are capable of not only addressing the prevalence of chronic disease conditions, but they also have minimal to no known side effect. The broad objective of this journal article is to review the bioactive and health-promoting benefits of tropical fruits in chronic disease prevention and management. The valuable knowledge derived from this review will enable food and pharmaceutical companies to explore the production of novel functional foods/neutraceuticals and potent medicines respectively from tropical fruit sources that can be useful in chronic disease prevention and management.
Keywords: Tropical fruits, bioactive compounds, chronic diseases, hypertension, diabetes, oxidative stress