Opuntia Ficus-Indica a Mediterranean Diet Product ^†

During last decades, several researches and scientific studies were conducted on the « Opuntia ficus indica » a wild edible plant which the fruit is commonly known as prickly pear, promoting its nutritional value, due to a rich composition in polyphenols, polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and amino acids. The current work intends to highlight uses of hole plant parts in different fields such as medical field including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiulcer, dietetic, anticancer and antidiabetic activities. Opuntia ficus indica is also wildly used in the culinary field as jam and food coloring; in the agronomic and ecological field as regenerator of exhausted soils; as supplement in fodder use, and in dermacosmetics and parapharmaceutical industry in shampoo and anti-wrinkle skin creams.

However, the use of this plant remains very limited. Consequently, this work is a global revue came to open the way for other more targeted investigations, particularly in Biotechnology.