ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the accumulated knowledge on the nature and type of bioactive compounds prevalent in fruits and vegetables, available technologies and methods for their efficient isolation, detection and purification of bioactive compounds from fruit and vegetable matrix, and their potential applications in the formulation of nutraceuticals and functional food. Fruits and vegetables are excellent matrix for bioactive compound isolation because they are abundant sources of these beneficial compounds. Carotenoids are major class of secondary metabolites present in fruits and vegetables. Phenolic compounds, also known as polyphenols, are members of another large group of chemical substances produced by plants as secondary metabolites. Glucosinolates, a group of sulphur containing phytochemicals, have been proved to be an important dietary inclusion due to their apparent beneficial effect in prevention of certain cancer. Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a very important micronutrient for humans. Saponins are compounds with proven health benefits because of their cardio-protective, immunomodulatory, antifatigue and pharmacological properties.
