Potential of Brazilian berries in developing innovative, healthy, and sustainable food products

Abstract

There is a considerable diversity of Brazilian berries, purple in color, and potentially rich in anthocyanins, which are an unexplored source of new foods, products, extracts, and compounds of economic and social interest. Nevertheless, none of these berries are significantly marketed or invested in for increasing the production and extraction of target compounds. Therefore, this review combined scientific data regarding the use of Brazilian berries as an innovative approach to the healthy and sustainable development of food products. The current review provides an overview of the main Brazilian berries (e.g., camu-camu, nhamburi, pitanga preta, cherry of Rio Grande, grumixama, açaí, jabuticaba, juçara, capinuriba and guabiju) and their nutritional and mineral profile, content of bioactive compounds and their biological activities. In addition, we report Brazilian berries used in the development of healthy products using emergent strategies and the use of Brazilian berry by-products in food innovation.