Extraction, purification, structural characteristics, modifications, biological activities, and applications of jujube polysaccharides: A review

Jujube ( Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) is an edible and medicinal fruit with extremely higher nutritional value. It is known as a precious food and medicine homology material with multiple effects such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, immunostimulating, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, and gastrointestinal protective activities in traditional Chinese medicine. Its key active ingredient, Z. jujuba Mill. polysaccharides (ZMP), not only has a variety of biological activities such as anti-oxidation, immunomodulatory, anti-cancer, hepatoprotective, hypoglycemic, and hypolipidemic activities, but also shows great potential in regulating gut microbiota and anti-inflammatory. In this review, we systematically summarized the past ten years of the extraction methods, purification methods, structural characteristics, structural modifications, pharmacological properties, structure-activity relationships, and potential applications of ZMP, which emphasized the diverse biological activities of ZMP in vivo and in vitro and their structure-activity relationship, and discussed the structural modification methods and its wide application prospects in food and other fields. These findings may accelerate the efficient utilization of jujube polysaccharides.