摘要：Recent advances in food and nutrition have shifted the consumer preferences towards nutraceutical rich foods. In addition to natural antioxidant defense system, there are external sources furnished via diet to quench free radicals and reactive oxygen species produced in the biological systems. Apricot occupies a distinct position among ston e fruits due to its multifaceted compositional contour and significant functional potentials. It has a rich nutritional content in terms of sugars (mo re than 60%) proteins (8%), crude fiber (11.50%), crude fat (2%), total minerals (4%), vitamins(highly rich in vitamin A, C, K and B complex) and reasonable quantities of organic acids (citric acid and malic acid) on dry weight basis.Literature reports appreciable amounts of total phenolic and flavonoids in the fruit which make them more valuable as functional food. The fruit has a great market value as fresh and dried food commodity and has the highest market share of agricultural income in Gilgit-Baltistan province of Pakistan.Dried fruits are taken as an energy rich food in the mountainous Karakoram region and have many uses in folk medicine for treatment of cold, fever, cough and constipation. Owing to its bioactive components of pharmacological importance, it ha s been found effective against chronic gastritis, oxidative intestinal damage, hepatic steatosis, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease and tumor formation. The present review is an attempt to collect and disseminate available information regarding nutritional and health potentials in apricot for the benefit of researchers, consumers and other stakeholders.
关键词：apricot nu trition; bioactive composition; free radicals; antioxidants; pharmacological importance
