New trends in cosmetics: By- products of red pitaya and their potential use as cosmetic active ingredients.

Abstract

Over the past few decades, massive quantities of solid wastes are being produced from the red pitaya fruits by the food and beverage industries and their disposal leads to severe environmental issues. Despite being waste materials, the red pitaya's by-products such as peels, seeds, and pulps are rich in beneficial active ingredients with diverse functionalities. Besides, the sophisticated technological advancements available today contribute greatly to the development of a variety of processes to convert these waste materials into high-value bio-products of excellent qualities. This review will be focusing on the potentialities and the current use of extracts and chemical constituents of the red pitaya and its by-products in the cosmetic field as antioxidants, natural coloring, moisturizing, anti-aging, and anti-inflammatory agents. These types of plant-derived actives are efficacious, economical and bio-sustainable, and therefore are theoretically suitable to substitute artificial and synthetic active ingredients, more customarily incorporated in cosmetic formulations.

Full text

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138
NEW TRENDS IN COSMETICS: THE POTENTIAL USE OF
RED PITAYA AND ITS BY-PRODUCTS AS COSMETIC
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS
Siti Salwa Abd Gani1, Ramya Vijayakumar2,
Nor Fadzillah Mohd Mokhtar3
1,2,3Halal Product Research Institute, University Putra Malaysia, Putra Info
port, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
2Department of Agriculture Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, University
Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
3Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
1ssalwa.abdgani@gmail.com, 2vramya.upm@gmail.com,
3nor_fadzillah@upm.edu.my
Corresponding Author: Siti Salwa Abd Gani
https://doi.org/10.26782/jmcms.spl.9/2020.05.00014
Abstract
Over the past few decades, massive quantities of solid wastes are being
produced from the red pitaya fruits by the food and beverage industries and their
disposal leads to severe environmental issues. Despite being waste materials, the red
pitaya’s by-products such as peels, seeds, and pulps are rich in beneficial active
ingredients with diverse functionalities. Besides, the sophisticated technological
advancements available today contribute greatly to the development of a variety of
processes to convert these waste materials into high-value bio-products of excellent
qualities. This review will be focusing on the potentialities and the current use of
extracts and chemical constituents of the red pitaya and its by-products in the
cosmetic field as antioxidants, natural coloring, moisturizing, anti-aging, and anti-
inflammatory agents. These types of plant-derived actives are efficacious, economical
and bio-sustainable, and therefore are theoretically suitable to substitute artificial
and synthetic active ingredients, more customarily incorporated in cosmetic
formulations.
Keywords: Red pitaya, By-product, Skin care, Cosmetic, Natural
I. Introduction
Fruits and vegetables are undeniably a quintessential source of nutrition
without which our diet routine will be incomplete and this has been an intensively
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studied topic over the years. Apart from primary metabolites such as lipids, amino
acids and saccharides, plants also synthesize a wide variety of secondary metabolites
that are of paramount significance in shielding them against abiotic and biotic stresses
[II]. Having great reputations as source of cosmeceuticals, preservatives,
pharmaceuticals, flavors, fragrances and dyes, secondary metabolites are also capable
of mediating numerous vital interactions with the external environment and also with
organisms occupying the identical ecological habitat [XX]. Moreover, a large number
of existing epidemiological studies in the broader literature have claimed that
consuming fruits and vegetables have improved human health significantly including
curing different categories of cancers and minimizing the risk for stroke and coronary
heart disease [XXX]. The solid waste produced by industries that process agricultural
products ranges about 10% to 60% and in some instances, raw materials originating
from the wastes or plant by-products possessed much greater beneficial chemical
properties analogous to their edible counterparts [XVII].
Practically unexplored approximately two decades ago, pitaya has currently
become an inseparable part from the growing niche in the exotic fruit market as well
as in the domestic markets of producer countries, such as Vietnam, Malaysia,
Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Pitaya or also known as dragon fruit
(Hylocereusspp) is a climbing vine cactus species which has successfully acquired
international attention, both as an ornamental plant and as an economical fruit crop.
Its fruit is regarded as the most beautiful in the Cactaceae family, with a bright red
skin studded with green scales and white or red flesh with well dispersed small black
seeds. There are three varieties of pitaya; namely and red flesh pitaya with red peel
(Hylocereus polyrhizus), white flesh pitaya with yellow peel (Selenicereus
megalathus) and white flesh pitaya with red peel (Hylocereus undatus) as shown in
Figure 1 [IV], [XXXVI]. The scope of this review is to highlight among the most
pivotal applications of the red pitaya’s by-products that possess large potentialities as
effective and natural cosmetic ingredients for various skin concerns.
Fig. 1: Three commonly found classes of pitaya (Hylocereuspolyrhizus,
Selenicereusmegalathus and Hylocereusundatus).
II. Antioxidants
Antioxidants are the star ingredient in various beauty products marketed
today, be it a luxury cosmetic brand or an ordinary drugstore skincare item. The
production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide anion, hydrogen
peroxide and hydroxyl radicals via oxidation initiates chain reactions that cause
severe impairment to the skin cells and destructs the crucial molecules in the body,
resulting in tissue injuries and cell death [XXVII]. The elevation of these detrimental
free radicals beyond the limit that can be handled by body’s pre-existing antioxidants

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increases the likelihood of wrinkle formation, hyperpigmentation, excessive skin
dryness, elastosis and photo-aging of the skin. That being the case, external
application of antioxidant rich formulations may greatly supplement the body’s own
supply of antioxidants to curb the generation and proliferation of ROS to safeguard
the skin from environmental stress triggered by free radicals [XVIII]. Polyphenols,
flavonoids and tocopherols are among the most coveted antioxidants whose
contributions to inhibit and regulate the oxidation of cellular constituents are
immense and according to previous literatures, polyphenols are the major compounds
elucidated from Hylocereus species [XXVII], [XIII].
Prior research suggests that when extracted with 70% ethanol, the flesh and
peels of red pitaya exhibited 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical
scavenging activity of 27.45±5.03% and 83.48±1.02% at the concentration of 1.0
mg/mL respectively. The total phenolic content (TPC) is highly correlated to the
DPPH radical scavenging ability of the plant extracts. Accordingly, the TPC value
obtained from the peels was 28.16 mg of ofgallic acid equivalents (GAE) /100g)
which is much higher than its flesh (19.72 mg of GAE/100g). Both peels and flesh
contain polyphenolic compounds but a major portion of flavonoids were found in its
peels [X]. Method employed to extract these constituents also impacts the yield of
polyphenolic content from the red pitaya peels and thus sub-fractionation was utilized
to narrow down the number of phytochemical classes in a single fraction as it lessens
the probability of interferences during experimental procedures [XXVII]. The
fractionated peels extract displayed greater DPPH radical scavenging activity of
805.1±1.2 μmoltrolox equivalents (TE)/100 g fresh weight in contrast to the non-
fractionated sample that showed only 95.2±1.2 μmol TE/100g fresh weight. In
addition, betacyanin rich fractions showed greater DPPH radical scavenging activity
while approximately 10 times higher TPC was detected in the peels (645.6
mg±1.0/100 g fresh weight) than the flesh (78.1 mg±1.4/100 g fresh weight).
Consequently, the peels fraction also showed excellent reducing capacity when its
extract was subjected to ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay [XXVII]
.
Vitamin C is a well-established antioxidant that is found abundantly in the
human skin. It plays a prominent role in the formation of complex classes of
enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants which collaborate with each other to
shield the skin from deleterious effects of ROS as in protecting against UV-induced
immunosuppression. Inclusion of vitamin C in the formulation of various
pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical products with therapeutic and prophylactic
properties are highly desirable as it excels as an anti-aging agent, DE pigmenting
agent, replenisher of vitamin E, and photo-carcinogenesis protector [XII]. The
vitamin C content analysis carried out by Choo and Yong [XXXVII] revealed that the
pulp is richer in ascorbic acid (32.65 ± 1.59) than the whole fruit comprising of the
pulp and peel (18.94 ± 2.51). However, the results obtained were are not in agreement
with the experimental data as reported previously [XXXVII] since the ascorbic acid
content of pulp was much lower at only 13.0 ± 1.5 mg/100g puree. Sample
preparation techniques along with experimental methods to evaluate vitamin C
content could have contributed to these dissimilarities, owing to the fact that the
authors carried out the extraction using 100% methanol solution followed by

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concentrating it at 40°C via partial vacuum. Environmental growth factors, soil type,
climatic changes and variation in maturation stage also fairly influence the vitamin C
content in fruits [XXI].
III. Natural Coloring Agent
Reliance in the therapeutic power of color might be ancient but it should be
noted that color in the earlier times was not a philosophical concept as it was
frequently associated to its origin in nature. Following the increasing awareness on
the feasible or authenticated detrimental effects imposed by artificial colorants used
in cosmetic producing industries, the exploitation of natural products to substitute the
current synthetic colorants are becoming a pragmatic approach even though it is less
economical. To meet the consumer’s demand for ecological products, industrialist
and cosmetic scientists are striving to come up with revolutionary natural colorants
that can provide multiple usefulness such as UV protection, anti-aging effects,
moisturizing properties and other relatable performances in the development of
foundations, lipcare, hair coloring and color cosmetic products. At present, among the
leading commercial sources of natural colorants is red beetroot, enriched with color
pigment known as betacyanin. Yet, the presence of geosmin and pyrazines in the red
beetroot are both accountable for the undesirable pettiness of this crop together with
the high concentrations of nitrate compounds that are linked with the production of
carcinogenic nitrosamines [XXIV]. On contrary to red beetroot, this unpleasant
sensorial impact is absent in the red pitaya fruit which makes it an exemplary
candidate to substitute red beetroot as a potential source of natural pigments. The
coloring application of the red pitaya comes from betalain, betacyanins and
betaxanthins compounds [XV], [XXXIII]. The peels and pulp of red pitaya contain
nearly equivalent amounts of betalains [XVII]. Some authors have driven the further
development of the Hylocereus genus and discovered that betaxan thin are completely
devoid in red pitaya whereas seven betacyanin compounds including isobetanin,
isophyllocactin, betanidinbetaninphyl locactin, is obetanid in and bougainvillein-R-1
were elucidated using reverse phase HPLC [XXV]. Other than this, anthocyanin
pigments which may appear red, blue or purple, are also abundant in red pitaya which
further enhances its prospective as a natural dye [XXXIX]. Therefore, these findings
justifies the employment of red pitaya peel in the color preparation for cosmetics.
Lip butter is an excellent remedy to heal cracked and dry lips and prior studies
demonstrated the suitability of red dragon fruit to be incorporated in the lip
moisturizer formulation. Not only red pitaya will serve as natural dye to enhance the
aesthetic appeal, it also improves the skin imperfections by acting as antioxidant,
antimicrobial agent, immune system booster and vitamin E, vitamin C and vitamin
B3 provider. Sandriani and her colleagues formulated a lip butter with red pitaya
extract as its natural dye using different types of oil phases [XXXIX]. The end
product exhibited a good texture with pleasant aroma while its pH also correlated
with the physiological pH of the lips when measured at the right melting point.
Another study by Phebe et al. [IX] also suggested the potential of red pitaya to be
used as natural colorant in beauty and health products. The research was conducted to
investigate the color, total betacyanins content, and separation of betacyanins in the

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peels and flesh of red pitaya harvested at 25, 30 and 35 days after flower anthesis
(DAA) and lastly the efficacy of tristimulus color evaluation as predictors of red
pitaya pigment content. The results displayed alteration of color of the peels from
green to red whereas the flesh changed from creamy white mixed red to red-violet as
DAA proceeded from 25 to 35 DAA, with enormous modifications found in the fruit
collected at 25 and 30 DAA. Furthermore, the elevation of protein level, categories of
betacyanins being isolated and total betacyanin content revealed a good correlation
with the color change expressed by the peels and flesh respectively. This study also
highlighted the advantage of tristimulus measurements to determine betacyanins
content of peels and flesh of red pitaya that can adequately replace the monotonous
pigment extraction technique [IX].
IV. Moisturizing Agent
The oil produced by minute red pitaya seeds coated by mucilage is perceived
as an excellent source of essential fatty acids. Any attempt that discourages the
retrieval of these valuable seeds may nevertheless be superseded by its essential oil’s
rich and beneficial constituents. In fact, the oil produced by these grainy seeds
manifest remarkably high contents of linoleic and linolenic acids and their isomers.
Linoleic acid makes up a substantial portion of the pitaya seed oil and its percentage
is comparable to linoleic acids found in canola, grape seed, flaxseed and also sesame
seed oil [I]. This distinguishable trait exhibited by the pitaya seed oil makes it to
stand out as an eminent moisturizing agent. Its rich linoleic acid composition
improves rough patchy and flaky skin while retaining the moisture level and
smoothness of the skin. Not only that, this type of essential acids which cannot be
synthesized by human body not only enhance skin health by healing eczema and
psoriasis, but they also help to control excessive hair loss. When religiously applied
to nails that are easily breakable, essential oils also improve the condition of the nails.
The regulation of skin’s metabolism by balancing the flow of oils and nourishing
collagen can be achieved competently with essential fatty acids [XXIX].
A large number of existing studies in the broader literature have examined the
composition of fatty acids in red pitaya seeds. As reported byArrifin et al. [I], about
50.8±0.53 % of pitaya seed oil comprised of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA),
whereby the biggest proportion was occupied by 49.6±0.33 % of linoleic acid while
linolenic acid constitutes only 1.21±0.20 %. Apart from this, an appreciable amount
of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) of 25.6±0.88% was also identified in the
seed oil whereby 21.6±0.53% was represented by oleic acid alongside 3.14±0.30 % of
cisvaccenic acid and 0.91±0.05% of palmitoleic acid. Besides, the saturated fatty
acids constitutes about 23.6±1.41% and it was governed by 17.9±0.53% of palmitic
acid [I]. In a study conducted to compare the effects of hot and cold extraction
conditions on the physiochemical characteristics of the red pitaya seed oil, the linoleic
acid dominated its major fatty acid content whereby the cold method yielded 49 %
followed by 48 % in the hot method [XXXI]. These findings are in accordance with
the results illustrated by Ariffin et al. [I] and Lim et al. [XVI] respectively. Often
accompanied by high molecular weight diesters and hydroxy esters, lanolin alcohols,
lanolin acids and complex mixtures of esters, linoleic acid containing topical

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preparation creates an inert layer on the skin via occlusion mechanism and penetrates
across the damaged skin to restore the impaired barrier function. Consequently, the
rate of transepidermal water loss is reduced considerably to promote skin hydration
and this signifies linoleic acid as an ideal moisturizing agent [XXII].
IV. Anti-Aging Agent
Skin aging is presumably one of the inevitable dermatological concerns in the
modern society as it affects ones confident level and self-esteem. From combating
those unendurable free radicals to enhancing skin's natural collagen productivity, anti-
aging products make some captivating promises. Elastin and collagen are both pivotal
in boosting the skin’s structural support system. Chronic exposure to ultraviolet (UV)
radiation produces ROS that accelerates the rate of collagen and elastin denaturation
synthesized by elastase and matrix metalloproteinase enzymes in the dermis layer. In
due course, this phenomenon induces physical modifications to the skin via complex
metabolic pathways which are reflected by occurrence of wrinkles and photo-aging of
the skin [III]. The red pitaya peels was subjected to anti-collagenase and anti-elastase
assays to evaluate its anti-aging properties based on its efficacy to inhibit collagenase
and elastase enzymes respectively as reported by Vijayakumar et al. [XXVIII]. The
anti-elastase activity assay performed by taking ascorbic acid as a standard exhibited
that red pitaya peels with the highest concentration of 1000 µg/ml possessed a high
elastase inhibition percentage of 87.62±0.05%, whereas the standard solution of
ascorbic acid showed 93.55±0.11%. The red pitaya peels extract showed moderately
active elastase inhibition with IC50 of (29.83±0.21) µg/ml while ascorbic acid
showed high activity against elastase with IC50 of (9.47±0.18) µg/ml. The
collagenase inhibition percentage of the peel was 96.92±0.02%, whereas ascorbic
acid showed inhibition of 97.97±0.18%. The red pitaya peel extract showed moderate
collagenase inhibition activity with IC50 of (16.28±0.14) µg/ml while ascorbic acid
was highly active against collagenase with IC50 of (7.67±0.11) µg/ml. The
polyphenolic compounds in the red pitaya peels possess hydroxyl groups that might
interact with the backbone as well as the side chain with different functional groups
of collagenase and elastase enzymes. For instance, the hydrophobic interaction
between the benzene ring of polyphenols and collagenase results in the
conformational alterations causing malfunction of the enzymes involved [VI]. The
capacity of the red pitaya peels to inhibit collagenase and elastase emphasized its
prospective as a good source of natural anti-aging agent.
V. Anti –Inflammatory Agent
Not only teenagers, adults are also sometimes being distraught and victimized
emotionally by dilemma called acne. Classified as a chronic inflammatory disorder of
the pilosebaceous unit, acne should not be taken lightly and appropriate medical
attention must be sought to prevent the outbreak from getting worse [XIV]. A number
of authors have recognized the anti‐inflammatory properties of red pitaya extract to
function as a soothing ingredient in skincare products. The LC-MS/MS analysis
carried out to investigate the presence of the potential anti-inflammatory chemical
constituents in the red pitaya revealed that its ethanolic extract comprised of various
flavonoids, polyphenols, and fatty acid esters. Among the metabolites that have been

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identified to possess promising anti-inflammatory effects were luteolin, ellagic acid,
and p-HPEA-AC [XXIII], [XI], [VII], [XXXVIII]. The anti-inflammatory activity of
the ellagic acid is regulated based on the NF-kB transcriptional activation inhibition
[XXXII]. Even though the question of the relevance of ellagic acid and glucoside
binding to the mechanism of anti-inflammatory pathway has never been clearly
addressed previously, it is crucial to note that several reports stated declination of
anti-inflammatory activity was observed due to glucoside-luteolin binding [XXXII].
On top of that, precursors aiding in the synthesis of betalain compounds with good
anti-inflammatory characteristics were also identified in the red pitaya’smethanolic
extract [X]. In addition to betalains and other polyphenols, the abundancy of vitamin
C and linoleic acid in the red pitaya fruit and its by-products have also been
exclusively focused in prior literatures. The efficiency of vitamin C to treat post-CO2
laser-induced erythema which is recognized as a clinical standard to evaluate dermal
inflammation resulting from laser injury depicts its notable anti-inflammatory
properties [XXV]. Besides, pretreatment with 10 % ascorbic acid decreased the
severity of both histological sunburn cells and erythema triggered by UVB rays in
pigs as evidently proved by Darr et al. [VIII] while linoleic acid is also shown to be
an excellent anti-inflammatory agent [XIX], [XXVI].
VII. Conclusion
Beyond the shadow of a doubt, extracts loaded with numerous invaluable
phyto-constituents derived from plant by-products are competent replacements for the
synthetic ones being exploited in the cosmetic industrialization. In the light of this
bibliographical study, some of the prominent functional cosmetic properties exhibited
by various residual parts of red pitaya were represented. The literatures pertaining to
righteous utilization of red pitaya by-products strongly suggests that the cosmetic
industry are conclusively capable of furnishing a remunerable solution on recycling
disposable wastes to develop “green” cosmetics that are inexpensive and eco-friendly.
However, literatures reporting on other possible skin goodness of red pitaya by-
products such as its depigmenting and photo-protective potency as well as intricate
investigations on its mechanism of actions are still scarce. In conclusion,
scrutinyzation in the pursuit of extended education on plant residues will eventually
distinguish efficacious ingredients from fallacious claims.
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