alimentação saudável

Artigo de Revisão/Review Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.4322/nutrire.2014.011

Avaliação dos fatores que caracterizam a berinjela
(Solanum melongena L.) como um alimento funcional* Evaluation factors featuring eggplant
(Solanum melongena L.) as a functional food
ABSTRACT

CARVALHO, M. M. S.; LINO, L. L. A. Evaluation factors featuring eggplant
(Solanum melongena L.) as a functional food. Nutrire: rev. Soc. Bras.
Alim. Nutr. = J. Brazilian Soc. Food Nutr., São Paulo, SP, v. 39, n. 1, p.
130-143, abr. 2014.
Currently, the role of healthy food is to optimize the nutrition of individuals, providing not only increased health and well-being, but also reduced risks of developing diseases caused by poor diets. Functional foods contain substances with different biological functions, called bioactive compounds, which can modulate the physiology of the body, ensuring the maintenance of health. Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) has been cited by several authors as one of the vegetables that can be classified as functional food. The lay population has used eggplant in different ways, without criteria and evidence from studies with different objectives. Among its main uses, the treatment and/or prevention of dyslipidemia and as adjuvant in weight loss can be highlighted. This work aims to study and analyze the most recent publications in order to justify the characterization of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) as a functional food. To this end, a literature review of articles was conducted in the Scielo, Medline, Pubmed, Bireme, and Lilacs databases, as well as in books and journals from 1992 to 2012. The selection of bibliographic reference sought to select studies that investigated the chemical composition of eggplant, elucidated its habitual use by populations, and attempted to demonstrate its functional properties. Although some studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of eggplant, more accurate investigations with standardized methodologies are