Asteraceae species with most prominent bioactivity and their potential applications: A review

Oxidative stress has a relevant part in the etiology of several diseases and metabolic disorders, being reasonable to expect that antioxidant compounds might have beneficial effects in health maintenance or disease prevention. Antioxidant compounds might be isolated and characterized from different plant constituents, such as roots, stems, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds, using proper extraction methods. The Asteraceae family has a worldwide distribution, with special relevance in the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and Asia Minor, being acknowledged about 25 000 species integrated in approximately 1000 genera. In addition to the anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic potential of some of these species, their high antioxidant power, as proven in research works with extracts (of roots, stems, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds) should be highlighted. Herein, the Asteraceae species with highest potential as sources of natural antioxidants with potential uses in medicine and in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries were identified. The species were selected based on their botanical representativeness, being identified the 9 most relevant species: Achillea millefolium L., Acmella oleraceae Murr.,Artemisia absinthium L, Bidens pilosa L., Carthamus tinctorius L, Inula crithmoides L., Matricaria recutita L, Otanthus maritimus L. and Parthenium hysterophorus L.. With the obtained information, it could be concluded that the bioactivity of the selected Asteraceae species lacks a complete characterization, constituting a research scope with great potential to be exploited in the development of dietary supplements, bioactive food ingredients or pharmaceutical based products with application in food industry, dermocosmetics or medicine. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.