ETHNO MEDICINAL VALUES OF CITRUS GENUS —A REVIEW OF THE CHEMISTRY, PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES, APPLICATIONS IN THE MODERN PHARMACEUTICAL, FOOD, AND COSMETICS INDUSTRIES

Dr. Vishal Garg*, Naveen Garg, Dinesh Jindal and Kriti Gupta

ABSTRACT

Citrus plants belonging to the family Rutaceae which include fruits such as orange, mandarin, lime, lemon, sour orange and grape fruit appear as a well-known promising source of multiple beneficial nutrients for human beings.[1] Fruits of Citrus genus play an important role as a dietary supplement and therapeutic assent as well since ages. The present review summarizes some such attributes of Citrus genus. The peel of citrus fruits is a rich source of flavanones and many polymethoxylated flavones, which are very rare in other plants. The citrus peel oils show strong antimicrobial activity. These compounds, not only play an important physiological and ecological role, but are also of commercial interest because of their multitude of applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries.[2] numerous studies have focused on Citrus secondary metabolites as well as bioactivities and have been intended to develop new chemotherapeutic or complementary medicine in recent decades. Citrus-derived secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, alkaloids, limonoids, coumarins, carotenoids, phenolic acids and essential oils, are of vital importance to human health due to their active properties. These characteristics include anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, as well as cardiovascular protective effects, neuro-protective effects, etc.[3]

Keywords: Citrus fruits, Secondary metabolites, Flavonoids, anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory Antibacterial, antifungal etc.