2023-09-07 04:00:22
Some medicinal properties that the avocado peel has would be useful against diseases such as diabetes and cancer.
It also has antioxidant properties that could serve as medicinal agents in diseases related to oxidative stress.
The total production of this fruit during 2022 reached 2,602,446 tons.
Before throwing one avocado peel You should think twice because not only does it contribute to the pollution generated by organic waste, but you can lose important medicinal properties with multiple health benefits.
To change the approach to waste, the research group headed by Dr. Emir Martínez Gutiérrez, attached to the Cinvestav Irapuatostudies this type of waste that appears as a potential source of compounds with industrial interest.
The waste from the avocado, whose production reached two million 602 thousand 446 tons in 2022 and generates large amounts of organic waste such as seeds and peels, could be used to obtain value-added products (dyes, biopolymers, natural antioxidants and oils), and at the same time contribute to the reduction of waste.
Medicinal properties of the avocado peel
The most recent work by Martínez Gutiérrez aimed to evaluate the effect of the extraction method in obtaining epicatechin and chlorogenic acid from the avocado peelsince these bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties could serve as medicinal agents in diseases related to oxidative stress.
Additionally, epicatechin has a possible therapeutic effect against diseases such as diabetes and cancerwhile chlorogenic acid has been related to functions such as antioxidant, cardioprotective, neuroprotective and anti-obesity activity, among others.
“We evaluated six extraction methods that included conventional techniques (simple and beta-cyclodextrin maceration, solid-state fermentation, wet milling, and the latter combined with the former) and more advanced technologies such as sonication; the latter is considered a green food processing technology, whose focus is simplicity, energy efficiency and economy”.
The results indicated that, with the wet milling plus maceration method, it was possible to recover a greater amount of both chlorogenic acid (244.3 milligrams per 100 grams of dry matter) and epicatechin (181.7 milligrams per 100 grams of dry matter); comparing this technique with sonication, up to eight times more of these bioactive compounds were obtained.
Other results warned that the addition of beta-cyclodextrin did not improve the extraction and when the solid state fermentation method was used it was impossible to detect chlorogenic acid or epicatechin under the evaluated conditions. Therefore, it would be desirable to explore other conditions for better results.
In addition, the effectiveness of the extraction depends on a large number of factors, including temperature, solvent, time, the use of which and how many methods. Therefore, it is necessary to continue exploring different conditions and combinations of technologies to maximize the recovery of bioactive compounds.
There is still little information about the strategies used for the release of bioactive compounds from raw materials derived from plants and some extraction methods use solvents such as methanol, ethanol, chloroform and acetone, which can have negative effects on the environment and increase the risks to human health.
In this sense, the methods evaluated by the Cinvestav researcher mainly used water as the solvent, and specifically, wet grinding plus maceration is an alternative that allows obtaining good recovery yields for phenolic compounds using accessible technology and a friendlier solvent with environment.
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