LAQV/REQUIMTE, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida 431, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal.
Faculdade de Ciências da Nutrição e Alimentação da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
Food Chem. 2019 Mar 1;275:557-568. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.09.146. Epub 2018 Sep 25.
Chayote (Sechium edule) has gained widespread consuming acceptance and recognized by its nutritional and bio-functional properties. The present review surveys and describes the current findings about the nutritional, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of chayote and identifies opportunities for further research. It also discusses chayote's versatile utility in nutrition, as a functional ingredient in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, as well as in nanotechnology and biotechnological processes. It was concluded that although the pharmacological properties of chayote are currently well-established, only a few reports have been conducted on the isolation and identification of individual chemical constituents, and similarly, only a few in vivo studies have been conducted to assess their biological efficacy. In addition, the valorisation of the underutilized chayote by-products can be an important aspect in waste management from both economic and environmental standpoints. Thus, the recovery and utilization of valuable compounds from chayote is an important challenge for scientists.
佛手瓜（Sechium edule）因其营养和生物功能特性而被广泛接受和认可。本综述调查和描述了佛手瓜的营养、植物化学和药理学特性的现有发现，并确定了进一步研究的机会。它还讨论了佛手瓜在营养、食品、化妆品和制药行业中的多功能用途，以及在纳米技术和生物技术过程中的应用。研究结论认为，尽管佛手瓜的药理特性目前已得到充分证实，但仅有少数关于分离和鉴定个别化学成分的报告，同样，仅有少数体内研究评估其生物功效。此外，从经济和环境角度来看，对未充分利用的佛手瓜副产物进行增值利用是废物管理的一个重要方面。因此，从佛手瓜中回收和利用有价值的化合物是科学家面临的一个重要挑战。
