Nutritional, Bioactive, and Health Potential of Pomelo (Citrus maxima): An Exotic Underutilized Fruit

Abstract

Pomelo scientifically known as Citrus maxima belongs to the family Rutaceae and is one of the largest fruits among citrus varieties. Mainly pomelo comes in different flesh colors such as red, pink, light pink, and white. The principal pomelo fruit polyphenols are phenolic acids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and tannins. Pomelo fruit generates a large number of wastes including peel, pomace, and seeds which are comprised of bioactive compounds. The bioactive compounds carried in waste improve health functionalities. The hesperidin, narirutin, naringin, and their aglycone (naringenin), which have traditionally been acknowledged to constitute a characteristic component of pomelo, are the fruit's major constituents. Also, pomelo fruit juice is high in vitamins A and C, and the peel offers high protein, carbohydrate, and mineral content. Pomelo production and processing of different byproducts have become a perfect and long-lasting resource for agriculture and the food industry. The wastes loaded with immense essential components in pomelo have great importance in terms of human health. To have unique goods, to increase high consumer acceptability, and to have health advantages, this work gives a summary of recent advancements made to date with nutritional benefits, bioactive elements, and health benefits of pomelo fruit.

Introduction

Citrus fruits are acclaimed as important constituents for human consumption as they are cholesterol-free and rich in folic acid, vitamin C, flavonoids, phenolics, pectin, and dietary fibers. Citrus fruits are the most significant fruit crops with a total production of 120 million tons per year.¹ Citrus includes fruit members such as bitter orange (Citrus aurantium), sweet orange (Citrus sinensis), mandarin (Citrus reticulata),grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), and pomelo (Citrus maxima). Pomelo (Citrus maxima) is one of the most common and the largest fruits among the citrus fruit varieties belonging to the Rutaceae family.^2,3 It is a natural, non-hybrid citrus fruit and is considered the principal ancestor of grapefruit. In Asia, Africa, and some parts of Australia citrus variety “pomelo” also regarded as “pummelo” or “shaddock” is widely grown and consumed in raw form or processed into juice. This fruit is referred to as chakotra in India. Due to different breeding and hybridization functioning with other species of citrus, there is development of different cultivars being available in many countries.⁴ Mainly pomelo fruit has more popularity in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world and now is regarded as one of the most cultivated and consumed citrus fruits along with mandarin, orange, grapefruit, and lemon. It is the most consumed fruit and the global harvested area and yield of pomelo fruit (Including grapefruit) were 3.7 × 10⁵ ha and 9.4 × 10⁶ tons.¹ Pomelo fruit spreads up to 10-30 cm in width and weighs around 1-3 kg varying depending on the cultivars. Pomelo fruit contains high levels of vitamin C, just like other citrus fruits. The presence of a high amount of citric acid in juice gives pomelo a sharp taste and flavor.⁵ The popularity of pomelo juice is due to its pleasant and refreshing flavor. The pulp is available in red, pink, and white colors with large spindle-shaped juice sacs. It contains a significant amount of naringin and a wide variety of polyphenolic substances, including hesperidin, caffeic acid, P-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and vanillic acid. Furthermore, the chakotra fruit is exclusively accessible throughout the winter season, and its availability is limited worldwide.^4,6

Mainly the pomelo fruit is composed of different parts including flavedo, albedo, segment peel, pulp, juice, seeds, and pomace. The other portions are regarded as a waste part of pomelo fruit. Pomelo contains 3 key parts; exocarp (flavedo, green, peel), mesocarp (albedo, white spongy peel), and endocarp (fruit pulp). Fruit's peel is made up of a cuticle on the exterior, covered by a thin epidermal layer (flavedo), and oil sacs that contain pectin and essential oils. These oil sacs and pectin have commercial importance.^2,7 The albedo, or spongy layer, is made up of pectin and has parenchymatous cells. The center of the pomelo is made up of white, spongy tissue. Figure 1. represents the anatomy of the pomelo fruit. Pomelo fruits are consumed as raw fruit, or in juice form, and the peels are discarded as waste. Pomelo peel is considered to be the largest and thickest rind among all citrus fruits and comprises up to 40% of the fresh weight of the fruit. During juice processing and raw fruit consumption, a lot of waste is generated in the peel, albedo, seeds, and pomace form.⁸The main constituents of pomelo waste include cellulose, water, hemicellulose, lipids, sugars, and active constituents include phenolics, and flavonoids. The presence of bioactive compounds and health benefits from pomelo fruit cause popularity among consumers because of the development of emerging food products from the waste of pomelo fruit.⁹ The waste discarded during the production and processing processes contains a huge number of useful constituents and presents valuable prospects in the fields of technology and health promotion.¹⁰ Food technologists, researchers, and industrialists are working on new extraction techniques and green tendencies to explore the field of fruit wastage for the production of new, innovative food and by-products.^6,11 As a result, the current review has been put together to highlight specific elements related to the utilization of Citrus maxima waste, with a focus on their nutritional profile and their function in the management of health, bioactive substances, food industrial approaches, and the proposed future prospectus.

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Future prospective and conclusion

Pomelo is an excellent source of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Pomelo is mainly consumed as fresh fruit because of its refreshing appeal and flavor. Pomelo fruit is utilized in food industries for the development of food products such as jam, jellies, beverages, bread, noodles, wine, and cake. Apart from food products pomelo has great potential for bioactive constituents available in different portions of fruit. The waste loaded in different portions including flavedo, albedo, segment peel, seeds, pomace, and juice of pomelo fruit has health functionalities and active constituents available. However, there is a wide gap and challenges related to the utilization of pomelo fruit for the fabrication of processed products with great nutraceutical potential. The edible coating production from pomelo fruit also needs concern from researchers and food industries to develop innovative coating by incorporating new additives with health-encouraging benefits. The therapeutic potential and nutritional value of pomelo fruit can be explored further for the production of healthy products which is a great benefit for pomelo growers for improving their income and also lowers postharvest losses.

Acknowledgement

All individuals listed as authors have contributed substantially to the design, performance, analysis of literature for this review, and the authors are thankful to Punjab Technical University for providing infrastructure for making this research contribution possible

Authors Contribution

Simple Sharma: Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, resources, and writing (original draft, review, and editing). Barinderjit Singh: Writing (original draft, review, and editing). Gurwinder Kaur: Supervision and writing (review and editing). Yashi Srivastava: Writing (review and editing). Rubrinder Singh Sandhu: Writing (review and editing). All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Funding Sources

There is no funding Sources

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise.

Data Availability Statement

This statement does not apply to this article.

Ethics Approval Statement

This research did not request ethical approval

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