Aronia melanocarpa products and by-products for health and nutrition: A review

Abstract

Due to factors such as cultivar, fertilization, maturation or climate conditions, as well as the date of their harvest, chokeberries (Aronia melanocarpa) differ in their content of minerals, vita-mins, carbohydrates, amino acids, organic acids, fats, aroma compounds and especially polyphe-nols, substances exerting a beneficial impact on health. The total content of the most important in-gredients, polyphenolic compounds, influence many proven chokeberry activities like antioxida-tive, anti-inflammatory, hypotensive, antiviral, anticancer, antiplatelet, antidiabetic and antiathero-sclerotic, respectively. Polyphenolic compounds such as anthocyanins, flavonoids, procyanidins and phenolic acids in different rates and amounts are responsible for all mentioned activities. In the human body, they undergo different biotransformative processes strengthening their bioactivity in-side and outside cells. The popularity of chokeberry has been significant lately because of its effects on human health and not just because of its nutritional value. The main interest in this review has been refocused on the chokeberry benefits to human health, nutritional contribution of its compo-nents, particularly polyphenolic compounds, and its physiological effects.