Nutritional and bioactive properties of Pereskia aculeata Miller: Potential in nutrigenomics and functional food development

Pereskia aculeata Miller (ora-pro-nóbis), a leafy cactus native to Brazil, stands out for its high nutritional value, including approximately 23.8% protein (dry basis), substantial dietary fiber (up to 30.2%), and a rich profile of bioactive compounds such as chlorogenic acid (CGA), stigmasterol, isoquercitrin, and prebiotic soluble fibers like arabinogalactan mucilage. These components support its potential as a functional food ingredient, particularly through prebiotic effects that promote short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production—especially butyrate—via gut microbiota fermentation. SCFAs and CGA may synergistically modulate epigenetic mechanisms, such as histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition, potentially influencing gene expression related to anti-inflammatory pathways, oxidative stress reduction, and metabolic regulation. Such mechanisms hold promise for addressing chronic inflammatory and metabolic disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, which share low-grade systemic inflammation as a common driver. Industrial applications include functional flours, fortified beverages, plant-based analogs, and mucilage-based biomaterials for texture stabilization and encapsulation. However, challenges persist: anti-nutritional factors limiting protein bioavailability, sensory issues (astringency, foaming), thorny morphology hindering scalability, absence of a nuclear reference genome impeding breeding, and limited human clinical trials validating nutrigenomic effects. Processing techniques (fermentation, thermal/non-thermal treatments) can enhance digestibility and mitigate drawbacks. This review synthesizes current evidence on P. aculeata 's nutritional and bioactive properties, highlights its hypothesized nutrigenomic potential, and emphasizes the need for accelerated domestication, genomic sequencing, and rigorous human studies to realize its role in preventive nutrition and functional food innovation.