Five Underutilized Ecuadorian Fruits and Their Bioactive Potential as Functional Foods and in Metabolic Syndrome: A Review.

The Ecuadorian Amazon harbors numerous wild and cultivated species used as food, many of which are underutilized. This review explores the bioactive potential of five such fruits-Borojó (); Chonta (); Arazá (); Amazon grape (), a wild edible plant; and Cocona ()-and their applications against metabolic syndrome. This study highlights their health-promoting ingredients and validates traditional medicinal properties, emphasizing their significance in improving health and mitigating the effects of the Western diet.

Willd. and L.: Ancestral Andean Food Security and Modern Anticancer and Antimicrobial Activity.

The species Willd. and L. are Andean staples, part of the traditional diet and gastronomy of the people of the highlands of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, northern Argentina and Chile, with several ethnopharmacological uses, among them anticancer applications.

Exploring the Antioxidant Potential of L.: Mitigating Chemotherapeutic Effects of Doxorubicin on Tumor Cells.

Several plants of the genus L. have shown antibacterial, fungicidal, and antiproliferative activity, among other types of activities; however, most species of the genus have not been investigated. L.

Chronic Degradation of Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests Increases the Incidence of Genotoxicity in Birds.

Multiple studies have shown that exposure to pollutants can increase genotoxic damage in different taxa. However, to our knowledge, the effects of environmental stress have been explored little. In certain stressful ecosystems, such as seasonally dry tropical forests, the combined effects of anthropogenic activities and ongoing global changes can cause an increase in environmental stresses, in turn, may trigger physiological and genetic effects on biodiversity.

Peach Palm ( Kunth.): Ancestral Tropical Staple with Future Potential.

A pre-Columbian staple, Kunth. is a palm tree domesticated around 4000 years ago, so appreciated that a Spanish chronicler wrote in 1545, "only their wives and children were held in higher regard" by the Mesoamerican natives. The peach palm is an integral part of the foodways and gastronomy of Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, and other tropical American countries; meanwhile, it is almost unknown in the rest of the world, except for hearts of palm.