Pereskia aculeata leaves: properties and potentialities for the development of new products

Pereskia aculeata Mill., known as Ora-Pro-Nobis or Barbados gooseberry, arouse the interest of food and pharmaceutical industries due to its bioactive compounds and mucilage. We conducted a peer-reviewed survey using Web of Science, Scopus, Scielo, Science Direct, and Scifinder platforms, as well as patent bases for new products. We selected articles which highlighted composition of leaves and applications in the development of new products. Mucilage shows great potential in the development of complexes or microparticles to transport active molecules. Reports on anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties of P. aculeata leaves open a research field to obtain pharmaceutical products. Emulsifying properties of mucilage have been explored in food processing. Another potential use is the development of films for functional and/or edible packaging. The polysaccharide chain, the main mucilage constituent, can interact with other biopolymers to be explored in colloidal chemistry for the production of biomaterials in the next years.