Pomegranate, from fruit waste food supplements with great potential

In nature nothing is thrown away. The circular economy is a concept that has existed long before man conceived it: anything can be usefuleverything is recycled and transformed into something else.

That of pomegranate waste it’s just an example. Because today a new research project aims to derive from them beneficial molecules to produce supplements and nutraceutical foods.

The beneficial potential of the pomegranate and its waste

Il pomegranate is considered one of many superfood, i.e. foods that have a very high content of micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals or antioxidants. The extracts obtained directly from the fruit, in fact, have already shown to have excellent properties antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and anticancer.

Today’s news consists of the project NewTriPome: conceived by ENEA, it has the aim of obtaining active biomolecules also from the waste from the cultivation and processing of both the fruit and the plant, in order to produce supplements and foods such as foods or juices.

An idea that would also other positive reflections. That is, given the increase in terms of cultivation and consumption of pomegranates, valorising agricultural waste would mean contributing to the circularity of their economy.

How the project works

AENEAS will collaborate with four laboratories of the Casaccia Research Center in Rome, committed to issues of health and biotechnology in the agri-food sector.

As explained by Barbara Benassi, head of the ENEA Health and Environment Laboratory, “The four ENEA laboratories will work together to identify the active biomolecules present in the plant and fruit waste and, subsequently, to study the their anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity in human experimental models of intestinal epithelium, liver tissue and macrophage component, i.e. those immune cells that play the role of scavengers in our body.”

Furthermore, the team of researchers will make use of the CRESCO6 supercomputers to carry out analyzes of molecular dynamics: with these, you want identify the active ingredients useful for formulating nutraceutical products and supplements that they can act on oxidative stress and inflammationresponsible for various chronic-degenerative pathologies and tissue aging.

Pomegranate and more: other plants with bioactive and nutraceutical potential

The pomegranate and its waste are just one of the fruits of the earth that researchers are studying or have already studied to discover its nutritional and nutraceutical value. There are also hazelnut, saffron, tomato, wild ginger, basil, shiso and watercress. And also the waste from other plantslike the blades of the prickly pear and those of the flowers of the Melissa officinalis.