Citrus peel as a source of functional ingredient: A review

Citrus plants belonging to the family Rutaceae which include fruits such as orange, mandarin, lime, lemon, sour orange and grapefruitappear as a well known promising source of multiple beneficial nutrients for human beings. Processing of citrus by-products potentially represents a rich source of phenolic compounds and dietary fibre, owing to the large amount of peel produced. These citrus fruit residues, which are generally discarded as waste in the environment, can act as potential nutraceutical resources. Due to their low cost and easy availability such wastes are capable of offering significant low-cost nutritional dietary supplements. The utilization of these bioactive rich citrus residues can provide an efficient, inexpensive, and environment friendly platform for the production of novel nutraceuticals or for the improvement of older ones. This review systematically summarized the potential components present in citrus peel, which generally discarded as waste. Keywords: Citrus, Citrus peel, Nutraceuticals, Bioactive components, Polyphenols, Flavonoids, Dietary fibre