Fruit seeds as sources of bioactive compounds: Sustainable production of high value-added ingredients from by-products within circular economy

Abstract

<p>The circular economy is an umbrella concept that applies different mechanisms aiming to</p><p>minimize waste generation, thus decoupling economic growth from natural resources. Each year,</p><p>an estimated one-third of all food produced is wasted; this is equivalent to 1.3 billion tons of food,</p><p>which is worth around US$1 trillion or even $2.6 trillion when social and economic costs are</p><p>included. In the fruit and vegetable sector, 45% of the total produced amount is lost in the</p><p>production (post-harvest, processing, and distribution) and consumption chains. Therefore, it is</p><p>necessary to find new technological and environmentally friendly solutions to utilize fruit wastes</p><p>as new raw materials to develop and scale up the production of high value-added products and</p><p>ingredients. Considering that the production and consumption of fruits has increased in the last</p><p>years and following the need to find the sustainable use of different fruit side streams, this work</p><p>aimed to describe the chemical composition and bioactivity of different fruit seeds consumed</p><p>worldwide. A comprehensive focus is given on the extraction techniques of water-soluble and</p><p>lipophilic compounds and in vitro/in vivo functionalities, and the link between chemical composition</p><p>and observed activity is holistically explained.</p>