Physalis peruviana fruit bioactive compounds

Abstract

The top world producers of Physalis peruviana L. fruits are Colombia and South Africa; also it is widely cultivated in Egypt, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ecuador, and Peru. The plant grows wild giving an edible round, small berry fruit enclosed within a papery calyx. The fruit is distinguished by producing ethylene at a high rate. P. peruviana fruits have been exclusively studied due to their nutritional and bioactive metabolites, in addition to their folk medicine uses as an antiasthmatic, diuretic, sedative, analgesic, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, and anticancer agents as well as in diabetes and diabetic neuropathy management. This chapter reviews the bioactive metabolites of P. peruviana that have been identified or isolated from fruits worldwide. The major metabolites reported with pharmacological activities are withanolides, carotenoids, fixed oil, and minerals in addition to phenolics—the largest class in the fruit—to which most of the biological activities are attributed.