Table 1.
Examples of benefits of Brazilian peppertree fruit.
| Benefits | Keypoint | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Antimycobacterial activity | Its flavonoids are responsible for antimycobacterial activity. | Bernardes et al., 2014 |
| Antibacterial activity |
| Linden et al., 2020 |
| α-phellandrene and α-pinene showed promising antibacterial activity. | Salem et al., 2018 | |
| Its essential oil promoted cell damage in all tested bacteria, and promoted the leakage of macromolecules and small ions from bacterial cells. | Dannenberg et al., 2019 | |
| Antimicrobial activity | Its bioflavonoids have significant role in the response to microbial infections. | Linden et al., 2020 |
| Antifungal activity | It showed antifungal activity against Candida albicans. | Alves et al., 2013 |
| Antiallergic activity | Its ethyl acetate faction showed antiallergic activity. | Cavalher-Machado et al., 2008 |
| Anticancer activity | It has shown anticancer activity and it was found effective in reducing the number of lung tumor nodules. | |
| Antitumor activity | Its extracts showed potential activity against tumor cell lines such as glioma and kidney. | Silva et al., 2017 |
| Antidiabetic activity | Its extract showed antidiabetic activities because of glycosylated flavonols, gallotannins, and gallic acid. | Rocha et al., 2019 |
| Antiinflammatory activity | Its extracts inhibited cytokine, leukocyte migration and chemokine production which makes it suitable for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. | |
| Antihypertensive activity | It has shown antihypertensive activity due to its phenolic components. | Gloria et al., 2017 |
| Antioxidant activity | It has shown high antioxidant potential due to its high tannins, anthocyanins, flavonoids, and phenolic acids. | |
| Its fruit can be considered as a natural food additive due to its high antioxidant activity. | ||
| It is recommended as an alternative to replace synthetic antioxidants in processed food. | Vieira et al., 2023 | |
| Its essential oil reduced contents of primary and secondary ingredients of lipoxidation, and the essential oil of ripe fruits showed anti- oxidant activity in cheese. | Dannenberg et al., 2016 | |
| Insecticidal activity | Its seed flour is toxic to the cowpea weevil (Callosobruchus maculatus (F.), larval development, as the seeds are rich in proteins such as chitinases, lipoxygenase, glycinin, 7S globulins, and others. | Oliveira et al., 2022 |
| Its essential oil shows high insecticidal activity against Phthorimaea operculella and Spodoptera littoralis. | Ennigrou et al., 2017 | |
| Its fruit essential oil can be used for control of castor bean white-fly (Trialeurodes ricini Misra), and sweet potato whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius). | Hussein et al., 2017 | |
| The essential oil of its fruits showed insecitidal activity against Trialeurodes ricini, Bemisia tabaci, Culex pipiens, and Rhyzopertha dominica. | ||
| Its essential oil can be used against cowpea weevil (Callosobruchus maculatus Fabricius). | Torre et al., 2024 |
Table 2.
Some of the most important health benefits of Uncaria tomentosa.
| Pharmacological benefits | Keypoint | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Anticancer activity | It contains different types of pentacyclic oxindole alkaloids which have shown anticancer activities against breast cancer, cervical, thyroid, and bladder cells. | |
| Its extracts decrease the infiltration of T cells into the tumours, and reduced angiogenic markers in cancer cells. | Zari et al., 2021 | |
| It has shown antiproliferative effect against different cell lines, such as neuroblastoma, leukaemia, acute lymphoblastic, breast cancer, promyelocytic leukaemia, and glioma. | ||
| Antineoplastic activity | It has immunostimulatory and antitumor activity due to its oxindole alkaloids content. | Piscoya et al., 2001 |
| Antioxidant activity | It has antioxidant activity, and it can be used for treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. | |
| It was discovered to protect against oxidative stress in human erythrocytes. | Sandoval et al., 2002 | |
| It has also the significant cytoprotective effect due to its ability to interact with the injurious oxidant. | Sandoval et al., 2000 | |
| Antiinflammatory activity | It has antiinflammatory activity due to its NF-kB inhibition. | Allen-Hall et al., 2010 |
| Antimicrobial activity | It shows antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterococcus faecalis. | Ccahuana-Vasquez et al., 2007 |
| Antiviral activity | It has been examined as a binding factor for the ACE2 receptor at the site where Covid-19 spike protein binds. | Yepes-Perez et al., 2020 |
| Its extracted alkaloid is useful against dengue virus-2 (DENV) in vitro. | ||
| Skin health and wound dressing material | Alginate films with its extract could be applied as wound dressings materials. | Elgegren et al., 2021 |