Research advances in chemical components of Prunus mume and its applications

Prunus mume,belonging to Rosaceae,showes antibacterial activity,antioxidant activity and digestion promotion due to its richness in functional components,such as organic acid,saccharides amino acid and several trace elements human body needs and other nutrients,and conteins a large amount of flavonoids,anthocyanins,phenolic acids and other biological active substance as well,which is beneficial to human health and has high values of nutrition and medicine. Research indicated that eating Prunus mume exerted effects of antimicrobia,antiviral,anti-tumor,lowering blood lipids,regulating physiological metabolism etc. It can be used as natural antimicrobial agent,antioxidant,preservative in food processing,which has great significance in research and shows good application prospects. The research progress on the chemical components of Prunus mume,especially plum and applications in food inclustry were summerized in this paper,which could provide ideas for the deep-processing in prunus.