消费者对具有功能特性的健康食品的需求对食品工业产生了明显的影响,从这个意义上说,他们一直在将生物活性成分的天然来源添加到食品中。越橘(越橘)是一种功能性食品,以黑色的小蓝莓的形式呈现其果实。这种着色是由于花青素含量高,还与越橘有益的健康效果有关。在越橘行业,由于不那么美观的形状或外观,这种水果的年度损失非常高,它们不能被认为适合出售,因此作为生物废物处置。因此,这是非常重要的价值,这个审查旨在完全表征V.myrtillus的水果,以理解它们的消费和对消费者的健康有益影响之间的关系。因此,这篇综述描述了越橘果实中存在的营养和生物活性化合物,其次是有益的健康影响。还探讨了这些水果中存在的天然色素的概述,特别关注花青素成分,这代表了最广泛研究的一类的生物活性化合物。最后,这些水果和副产品的工业应用,作为生产具有经济和环境影响的增值产品的有效方法,也进行了讨论。总的来说,V.Myrtillus是微量营养素和植物化学化合物的丰富来源,如有机酸,糖,糖维生素,纤维和酚类化合物(花色苷和非花色苷化合物),具有营养和功能特性,证明人们对这些浆果越来越感兴趣,不仅用于食品应用,而且在制药行业。
Consumers\' demand for healthier foods with functional properties has had a clear influence on the food industry and in this sense, they have been attaching natural sources of bioactive ingredients into food products. Vaccinium myrtillus L. (bilberry) is known to be a functional food, presenting its fruits in the form of a small dark blueberry. This coloration is due to its high content in anthocyanin, being also associated with bilberries\' beneficial health effects. In the bilberry industry, there is a very high annual loss of this fruit due to the less aesthetic shape or appearance, in which they cannot be considered suitable for sale and are therefore disposed of as biological waste. Therefore, it is of great importance to valorize this fruit and this
review aimed to completely characterize the fruits of V. myrtillus in order to comprehend the relationship between their consumption and the beneficial effects regarding consumer\'s health. Thus, this
review provides a description of the nutritional and bioactive compounds present in bilberry fruits, followed by their beneficial health effects. An overview of the natural pigments present in these fruits was also explored, focusing particularly in the anthocyanins composition, which represents the most widely studied class of bioactive compounds of V. myrtillus fruits. Finally, industrial applications of these fruits and by-products, as an efficient approach to the production of value-added products with economical and environmental impact, were also discussed. In general, V. myrtillus is a rich source of micronutrients and phytochemical compounds, such as organic acids, sugars, vitamins, fibers and phenolic compounds (anthocyanin and non-anthocyanin compounds), with nutritional and functional properties, that justify the growing interest in these berries, not only for food applications, but also in the pharmaceutical industry.