Minor fruit species as natural source of health-promoting compounds: Lycium spp., Morus nigra L. and Crataegus azarolus L.

Throughout history, man has used different natural remedies to prevent several diseases: in particular, fruits and vegetables are good sources of natural antioxidants containing many different components which provide protection against harmful free radicals and have been associated with a number of health benefits. Recently, there has been a growing interest in underutilized or alternative fruits: goji, black mulberry, and red azarole have attracted increasing attention in the field of food, nutraceuticals, and medicine because of their widely reported health benefits. However, neglected and underutilized natural food resources are suffering from less attention and research, and their nutritional, economic and socio-cultural potentials are not fully exploited. The aim of this research was to describe Lycium spp., Morus nigra L. and Crataegus azarolus L. fruit quality traits and report on the level of potentially bioactive compounds and their influence on phytocomplex, antioxidant activity, and health-promoting effects based on chemical fingerprint. Different chromatographic methods were used to determine concentrations of phytochemical compounds (phenolic and organic acids, flavonols, tannins, catechins, monoterpenes, vitamin C) in the fresh fruits, allowing for quantification of statistically significant differences in their bioactive compounds. For the analysis, a High Performance Liquid Chromatograph - Diode Array Detector (HPLC-DAD) was used. The results showed these species could play an important role as natural sources of bioactive compounds for functional food and medicinal applications. The study used HPLC methods for a comprehensive authentication and quality control of minor fruit species: analytical fingerprinting could be an important tool to evaluate fruit nutraceutical properties encouraging a deeper evaluation of the nutraceutical value for the many different cultivars.