# Tropical Almond Tree (Terminalia catappa L.): A Comprehensive Review of the Phytochemical Composition, Bioactivities and Economic Potential

## TL;DR

This paper reviews the Terminalia catappa tree's nutritional content, medicinal uses, bioactive compounds, and economic potential.

## Contribution

The paper provides a comprehensive overview of T. catappa's phytochemical composition and bioactivities, highlighting its underutilized economic potential.

## Key findings

- T. catappa contains bioactive compounds like phenolics, alkaloids, and diterpenes with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
- The tree has ethnopharmacological uses for treating angina, asthma, and bronchitis, and shows antimicrobial and antitumor activities.
- T. catappa has significant economic potential in medicine, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals due to its diverse bioactivities.

## Abstract

Tropical almond tree (Terminalia catappa L.), belonging to the Combretaceae family, is an unfurling tree with different edible parts. This review discussed the nutritional content, ethnopharmacological applications, main bioactive components, biological effects and economic potential of T. catappa. T. catappa shows essential applications in medicine, cosmetics and pharmaceutics. The nutritional values of T. catappa are associated with its contents of carbohydrates, minerals, proteins, lipids, vitamins and amino acids. It is used in many ethnopharmacological applications, including a heart stimulator, anti-diarrhoeal, bactericidal, anti-parasitic and anti-stress. T. catappa is used to treat angina pectoris, asthma attacks and bronchitis. The main reported biological activities for T. catappa were antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-atherosclerosis, antitumor, antimicrobial, anthelmintic, antimalaria, hepatoprotective, insecticidal, anti-inflammatory and antihyperlipidemic activities. The main bioactive components reported in T. catappa encompassed phenolic compounds, alkaloids, diterpenes, fatty acids, galloyl glucose and derivatives, steroids and coumarins. T. catappa shows great economic opportunities which need to be expanded and diversified, taking into account its sustainability.