Peels as an important natural source for different house hold and medicinal uses- A Short Review

Abstract

Human being relies on many more plant species for their daily needs for food, clothing and shelter. These plants also provide crafts, medicines, cosmetics and also these plants are used for economic development. Plant derived traditional medicines effectively cure our primary health problems. Plants’ waste source (peels) of some vegetable; fruits also have high medicinal value in comparison to the pulp of the corresponding vegetables/fruits. This was already reported and partly discussed by some researchers. But it is required to study well because in most parts of the world people do not know the actual use of peels and their medicinal property and are used these as cattle feed. A few peels show antimicrobial property against various types of bacteria like E. coli, Staphy-lococcus aureus, Pseudomonas etc. which has been reported earlier. Therefore, a detailed study of the benefits of peels is a need of the hour. In this review attempts have been made to highlight the benefits of fruit peel as a good source of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory due to the presence of var-ious bioactive compounds.