Abstract
Dragon fruits or Pitaya are the lithophytes or hemiepiphytes of Cactaceae family primarily distributed among tropical regions. This fruit initially attracted the researchers looking for natural food grade dyes for its striking color pigments (betalains), however, investigations established that dragon fruit pulp, peel, and seed contain potentially beneficial carbohydrates, phytoalbumin, biopeptides, vitamins, phenolics, and minerals. The seeds of dragon fruit are exceptionally small, so could not focused for their oleoginous compounds but research up to the date indicates that seeds of this fruit are rich in essential fatty acids principally omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids as well as tocopherols. The levels of linoleic acid attributed to dragon seed oil (500 g/Kg of oil) are comparable with flaxseed, canola and sesame oils. The keen survey of literature available regarding the phytochemistry of dragon seed recommends that this oil may become a viable source of good quality oleonutrients for food and cosmetic industries. There is a prompt need to modernize and scale up seed separation and oil extraction methods to revalorize dragon seed phytochemicals.
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Abbreviations
- DSO:
-
Dragon seed oil
- EAE:
-
Enzyme-assisted Extraction
- MAE:
-
Microwave-assisted extraction
- PUFA:
-
Polyunsaturated fatty acids
- SE:
-
Soxhlet extraction
- SFE:
-
Supercritical fluid extraction
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Akram, S., Mushtaq, M. (2019). Dragon (Hylocereus megalanthus) Seed Oil. In: Ramadan, M. (eds) Fruit Oils: Chemistry and Functionality. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12473-1_36
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12473-1_36
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