Health-promoting compounds in cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.): Review from a supply chain perspective

Background The fruit of Physalis peruviana L., known as Cape Gooseberry (CG) is a source of a variety of compounds with potential health benefits. Therefore, CG has been subject of scientific and commercial interest. Scope and approach This review paper evaluates changes of such health-promoting compounds and antioxidant activity in CG, based on published literature and from a supply chain perspective, considering pre-harvest, post-harvest, processing (thermal and not thermal) and storage steps to give an insight of contents at consumption stage. Key findings and conclusions CG has vitamin C (20 and 35 mg 100 g⁻¹ FW), β-carotene (up to 2.0 mg.100 g⁻¹ FW), total phenolic compounds TPC (50–250 gallic acid equivalents.100 g⁻¹ FW), phenolic acids (caffeic, gallic, chlorogenic, ferulic and p-cumaric acids), flavonoids (quercetin, rutin, myricetin, kaempferol, catechin and epicatechin) and antioxidant activity. There is not yet evidence of presence of physalins and withanolides in CG as previous review papers have stated. The ripeness stage of CG is a relevant factor affecting the content of many phytochemicals. Vitamin C and β-carotene contents are directly proportional to ripeness stage. The reported data in literature showed a large variation, likely caused by different raw material properties (origin, ripeness stage, growing conditions etc.) and differences in the employed analytical methods. Thermal and non-thermal processing have an effect on the extractability of the phytochemicals but also on the decrease of compounds and antioxidant activity. Relative stability to certain phytochemicals to processing suggest an opportunity to add value to supply chain with processed food containing health-promoting compounds.