Pharmacological Actions of Ananas comosus L. Merril: Revision of the Works Published from 1966 to 2020

Bromeliaceae family is very common in Brazilian territory, with approximately 56 genera registered. Ananas comosus (L.) Merr, known as pineapple, one of the most consumed tropical fruits in the world, is the most studied species among them. Additionally some of the plants in this family are used to treat several pathologies in traditional medicine, so this study synthesize the main pharmacological or biological actions of A. comosus and its varieties. A literature review was conducted from the main indexed databases (PubMed, SciELO, Science Direct, Lilacs) about the biological activities of the species A. comosus and its varieties. The Ananas comosus var. comosus was the most cited in the research, we found different secondary metabolites, mainly flavonoids, phenolic compounds and also the complex of enzymes bromelain which were mainly responsible for the fifteen pharmacological activities found, such as abortive, antioxidant activity, hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic. The results obtained in this work show that the species presents several pharmacological applications that can be exploited as a source for new chemical and biological studies that lead to the isolation of promising substances.