A review of mandacaru fruit phytochemicals, its pharmacotherapeutic benefits and uses in food technology.

The genus includes medicinal plants native to the Neotropical region. Although their colorful fruits are consumed in arid and semi-arid areas, these are underused industrially due to limited knowledge. This review presents recent studies on the chemical, physicochemical, and bioactive aspects of fruits, along with pharmacotherapeutic benefits and potential applications of peel, pulp, and seed compounds. fruits exhibit high nutritional value and richness in bioactive compounds. Their peel has the highest antioxidant concentration, mainly phenolics, flavonoids, and carotenoids. Their pulp offers significant dietary fiber and energy. Seed flour and oil are rich in minerals (K, P and Mg), and also contain oleic, linoleic, and palmitic acids. Most studies focus on , indicating the need to explore other species for their varied compositions, in addition to innovative physicochemical analyses to uncover relevant compounds.