LAUSR

Since ancient times, human begins have relied on certain plants or herbs to treat the diseases that afflict them. This ancient knowledge has recently gained considerable interest in the pharmaceutical community (Dasgupta et al., 2013). One reason is that nearly 80% of the world’s population in developing countries use traditional remedies (Lee et al., 2019), many of them based on the empirical knowledge, popular tradition, beliefs and culture of their society (Payal et al., 2012). Some foods, in addition to their nutritional characteristics, contain other bioactive compounds that can help maintain optimal health conditions, reducing the risk of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, dyslipidemias and cardiovascular diseases. These foods are known as functional foods, and they must go through clinical trials that document the beneficial properties for the body. In some cases, these claims are regulated by certain government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Brazilian Agency for Sanitary Regulation (ANVISA), and others (Granato et al., 2020). In recent years, various groups of scientists have begun to analyze the composition of such plants and fruits, focusing on minority compounds— mainly phenolic compounds and their antioxidant capacity—which have been attributed with preventive and treatment effects against various chronic diseases (Lin et al., 2016). Phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites of plants that have protective functions against biotic and abiotic stress factors (Li et al., 2018). Their chemical structure is made up of one or more hydroxyl constituents attached to an aromatic ring, and according to their structure, they are divided into phenolic acids, simple phenols, flavonoids, coumarins, lignans and tannins (Valduga et al., 2019). Averrhoa carambola L. (A. carambola L.) is cultivated in India as an edible fruits and is also used for the treatment of various diseases (Thomas et al., 2008). There is currently a wide range of research available on phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of different plants. The results vary, however, and among the possible explanations are the many different methods for collecting and processing samples, the use of solvents and the form of expression of the results (Vargas-Madriz et al., 2020). The present work is an exhaustive review of the scientific literature on the phenolic profile and antioxidant capacity of the fruit of A. carambola L. with special attention to methods used.