Sambucus nigra L. Fruits and Flowers: Chemical Composition and Related Bioactivities

ABSTRACT

The genus Sambucus includes up to 18 species, among them the widely known and used Sambucus nigra L. Elderberry fruits are rich in sugars, organic acids as well in anthocyanins and other polyphenols. The beneficial health-promoting effects of elderberries and elderflowers are well known, including beneficial effects against degenerative diseases (cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases), cancer, and diabetes, presenting antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immune-stimulating, chemo-preventive, and atheroprotective effects. Although currently they are mainly used in the food industry as food colorants and flavouring agents due to their phytochemical composition and related bioactivities, elderberries and elderflowers or their extracts are becoming attractive for other uses such as food supplements, nutraceutical ingredients and as raw materials for the pharmaceutical industries.

KEYWORDS:

• Anthocyanins
• bioactivities
• chemical profile
• elderberries
• elderflowers
• health-promoting effects
• polyphenols
• Sambucus nigra L.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the European Social Funds and the Regional Operational Programme Norte 2020 (operation NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000054), the European Investment Funds FEDER/COMPETE/POCI under Projects POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958 (CITAB) and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007728 (CQ-VR) and Funds from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), to CITAB (UIDB/04033/2020) and to CQ-VR (UIDB/00616/2020), and the financial support of the INTERACT project – “Integrative Research in Environment, Agro-Chains and Technology”, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000017, in its line of research entitled ISAC, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through NORTE 2020 (North Regional Operational Program 2014/2020).

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [CITAB (UIDB/04033/2020) and CQ-VR (UIDB/00616/2020)]; European Investment Funds FEDER/COMPETE/POCI [POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007728]; Regional Operational Program Norte 2020 [NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000017, NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000054].