Biological Functionality of Tropical Fruits

According to Wu et al. (2005), tropical fruits are those that grow well between the Tropic of Cancer (23° 27 N) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23° 27 S). In this area, frost is rare and both day length and temperature vary little over the course of the year. 

Plants have always been a remarkable source of bioactive ingredients and many of the currently available dmgs have been derived directly or indirectly from them. Plant phenolic compounds are among the most desirable food bioactives and they are found in both free and bound forms (mainly as 3-glycosides). However, as the latter are often excluded from analyses, the total phenolic content of Ifuits is often underestimated (Sun etal. 2002). 

Fruits are important natural antioxidant sources. Several epidemiological studies suggest that vegetables and fruits have a protective effect against chronic diseases, due to the presence of compoimds with healthrelevant effects, independent of the well-known nutrients and micronutrients (Agudo etal. 2007 Huxley and Neil 2003). Compoimds such as 

P Correia Laboratory of Food Bioactive Compounds and Dairy Technology (LABTA/UFRN), Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), 59078-900, Natal-RN, Brazil. 

L Genovese iMboratory of Food Bioactive Compounds, Department of Food and Experimental Nutrition, FCF, University of Sao Paulo (USP), 05508-900, 

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Many of the tropical fruits included in this chapter have been traditionally used in folk medicine. In contrast to the considerable literature about temperate fruits and their use as health-relevant functional ingredients (Joseph etal. 1998 Naczk and Shahidi 2006 Mattilaeta/. 2006 Galli et al. 2006), few reports have addressed the subject of tropical fruits. This scenario has been changing in the last decade, but there is still much to investigate about these plant materials, especially their biological functionality. 

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