Opuntia ficus-indica L. Mill Residues—Properties and Application Possibilities in Food Supplements

• Published in: Applied sciences 2020-05, Vol.10 (9), p.3260
• Main Authors: Manzur-Valdespino, Salvador, Ramirez-Moreno, Esther, Arias-Rico, Jose, Jaramillo-Morales, Osmar Antonio, Calderon-Ramos, Zuli Guadalupe, Delgado-Olivares, Luis, Cordoba-Diaz, Manuel, Cordoba-Diaz, Damian, Cruz-Cansino, Nelly del Socorro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antioxidants; Cellulose; Cellulose fibers; Crystalline cellulose; Dietary fiber; Dietary supplements; Disintegration; Evaluation; Food; Food industry; Food production; Food waste; Formulations; Fruits; functional properties; Health aspects; Lactose; Lipids; Opuntia ficus-indica; Phenolic compounds; Phenols; Prickly pears; Residues; tablet; Tablets
• ISSN: 2076-3417; 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app10093260

Recently, industry has been focusing on the development of new products made from food by-products in order to reduce and take advantage of food wastes. The objective of this study was to evaluate tablet formulations developed by mixing two commercial excipients, microcrystalline cellulose (M) and α-lactose-monohydrate (L), added with powder from residues (mesocarp and pericarp) of green and red (G and R) cactus pear fruit (Opuntia ficus-indica L. Mill), having the following formulations: green with microcrystalline cellulose (GM), green with lactose (GL), red with microcrystalline cellulose (RM), and red with lactose (RL). The results showed lower disintegration times for the tablets with microcrystalline cellulose. The fiber functional properties presented good values for lipid and water holding capacity. There was a higher total phenolic content (TPC) in formulations with green cactus pear residue powder with microcrystalline cellulose and lactose (GM and GL, respectively), but the DPPH and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) values were higher in the formulations with red cactus pear residues (RM and RL), while ABTS values were similar among all formulations. In conclusion, tablets made from Opuntia residues are proposed as a product of interest for the food supplement industry because of the good quality parameters and the functional and antioxidant properties that they provide.