From prickly pear pads, a milestone for nutritional and nutraceutical industry - dried and powdered product
A powerful natural healer
Opuntia ficus indica cladodes also contain biophenols, antioxidant substances widely used by the pharmaceutical industry. The biophenols piscidic acid, in fact, is a molecule with strong healing properties. Studies confirm that the healing qualities operated by these types of substances is of higher quality compared to usual healers.
A cure for the liver, gastritis and more
Scientific studies* demonstrate that the flavonoids contained in cladodes possess remarkable antioxidant, restorative and protective properties for the liver. Mucilage, on the other hand, has been shown to be effective in anti-gastritis and anti-ulcer activity, controlling cholesterol and blood glucose, reducing the effects of alcohol, and protecting against nickel toxicity.
Versatile and easy to use
The powdered presentation, the delicate fragrance (slightly close to tea) and neutral color make it easy to use in any cosmetic-type preparation and make it an ideal base for many pharmaceutical product.
* Azucena Nazareno M, 2017. Nutritional properties and medicinal derivatives of fruits and cladodes. In: Crop Ecology Cultivation and uses of cactus pea.. FAO, ICARDA.
* Proprietà nutrizionali e medicinali dei frutti e dei cladodi di Opuntia ficus -indica (L.) Mill. Mónica Azucena Nazareno Centro de Investigación y Transferencia de Santiago del Estero CONICET – Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero, Argentina
* Mucilage powder from cactus pears as functional ingredient: influence of cultivar and harvest month on the physicochemical and technological properties
Alba Du Toit 1, Maryna De Wit 2, Hermanus J Fouché 3, Marli Taljaard 1, Sonja L Venter 4, Arno Hugo 2, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
