Background: In 2015, The United Nations (UN) established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. In Latin America, the Pacific Alliance is integrated by Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico, which the scientific activity is focused on the scientific production from research and academic institutions. In this study, the main goal was to analyze the scientific production (2015–2019) in the Pacific Alliance related to “zero hunger” as SDG. The bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature was carried out using the Scopus database with search terms related to zero hunger and validated by Elsevier. We analyzed the annual production of original articles, productive journals, leading institutions, funding agencies, authors, and the most influential original. Results: Our results showed that the Pacific Alliance produced 2215 (81.0%) original articles, which is the fraction of non-excluded outputs with an annual growth rate of 12.62%, Mexico was the leading country, Nutrición Hospitalaria was the most active journal, and The Universidad Autónoma de Mexico was the leading institution and CONACYT as the leading funding institution. Conclusion: As conclusion, the scientific production of the Pacific Alliance is showing positive substantial changes, which reflects the main research themes related to zero hunger, such as food security, sustainable agriculture, and malnutrition to achieve this SDG by 2030.

Carvacrol is a phenol monoterpene found in aromatic plants specially in Lamiaceae family, which has been evaluated in an experimental model of breast cancer. However, any proposed mechanism based on its antitumor effect has not been reported. In our previous study, carvacrol showed a protective effect on 7,12‐dimethylbenz[α]anthracene‐ (DMBA‐) induced breast cancer in female rats. The main objective in this research was to evaluate by using in silico study the carvacrol on HER2, PI3Kα, mTOR, hER‐α, PR, and EGFR receptors involved in breast cancer progression by docking analysis, molecular dynamic, and drug‐likeness evaluation. A multilevel computational study to evaluate the antitumor potential of carvacrol focusing on the main targets involved in the breast cancer was carried out. The in silico study starts with protein‐ligand docking of carvacrol followed by ligand pathway calculations, molecular dynamic simulations, and molecular mechanics energies combined with the Poisson–Boltzmann (MM/PBSA) calculation of the free energy of binding for carvacrol. As result, the in silico study led to the identification of carvacrol with strong binding affinity on mTOR receptor. Additionally, in silico drug‐likeness index for carvacrol showed a good predicted therapeutic profile of druggability. Our findings suggest that mTOR signaling pathway could be responsible for its preventive effect in the breast cancer.

Dodonaea viscosa (Family: Sapindaceae) is a medicinal plant that has been used as anti-rheumatic and bone pain in Peru as a folk remedy. Ethanol extract obtained from D. viscosa leaves was partitioned as n-hexane fraction; chloroform fraction; ethyl acetate fraction; n-butanol fraction and aqueous fraction. Phytoconstituents from D. viscosa leaves were evaluated by using chemical reagents to identify the presence of each phytochemical. In addition, a cytotoxic effect was determined by the Sulforhodamine B (SRB) test. The results showed that the ethanol extract and ethyl acetate fraction of leaves had the highest variety of phytoconstituents. The ethanol extrac of leaves exhibited a major inhibitory effect compared to different fractions in human colon cancer cells (HT-29). From these assays, it is concluded that D. viscosa does not possess any detectable cytotoxic effect on epidermal cells from mouse (3T3), and a slight cytotoxic effect against HT-29 tumor cells compared to 5-FU. This species could appear like a good source of herbal medicine in colorectal cancer disease.

In this work, the structural and functional properties of proteins from black and yellow quinoa were assessed as well as the in vitro digestibility. Black quinoa flours contained higher amounts of crude fiber and lower amounts of total starch compared to the yellow counterpart. Structurally, electrophoretic SDS-PAGE bands corresponding to 50 kDa 11S globulin, and 55 kDa protein (under non-reducing conditions), and 31–33 kDa (under reducing conditions) were observed in both isolates. Fat absorption and water solubility indexes were comparatively lower in the black quinoa protein isolate. Both isolates showed a good nitrogen solubility index and emulsifying activity. In vitro protein digestibility was similar for both varieties (>95%). The addition of the protein isolates obtained from quinoa flours could be considered as a good alternative to increase the protein content of different foods taking advantage of key functional properties such as nitrogen solubility index and emulsifying activity.

Potato tocosh is a naturally processed potato for nutritional and curative purposes from traditional Peruvian medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the acute and sub-acute toxicity of tocosh flour (TF). For sub-acute toxicity, TF was administered orally to rats daily once a day for 28 days at doses of 1000 mg/kg body weight (BW). Animals were observed for general behaviors, mortality, body weight variations, and histological analysis. At the end of treatment, relative organ weights, histopathology, hematological and biochemical parameters were analyzed. For acute toxicity, TF was administered orally to mice at doses of 2000 and 5000 mg/kg BW at a single dose in both sexes. Body weight, mortality, and clinical signs were observed for 14 days after treatment. The results of acute toxicity showed that the median lethal dose (LD₅₀) value of TF is higher than 2000 g/kg BW but less than 5000 mg/Kg BW in mice. Death and toxicological symptoms were not found during the treatment. For sub-acute toxicity, we found that no-observed-adverse-effect levels (NOAEL) of TF in rats up to 1000 g/kg BW. There were statistically significant differences in body weight, and relative organ weight in the stomach and brain. No differences in hematological and biochemical parameters were observed when compared with the control group. For sub-acute toxicity, histopathological studies revealed minor abnormalities in liver and kidney tissues at doses of 5000 mg/Kg. Based on these results, TF is a traditional Peruvian medicine with high safety at up to 1000 mg/kg BW for 28 days in rats.

Tropaeolum tuberosum Ruíz and Pav. “Mashua” is a crop from the Andean region associated with preventing chronic degenerative diseases. This study evaluated the content of bioactive compounds (phenolics, glucosinolates, carotenoids, and ascorbic acid) in twenty-seven Peruvian mashua morphotypes. Furthermore, three morphotypes (MAC 067, MAC 092, and MAC 123) were selected to evaluate further the effect of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) on the accumulation of bioactive compounds. Phenolic content in the mashua morphotypes ranged from 2990.76 ± 273.5 mg/kg to 24,217.36 ± 1144 mg/kg; whereas carotenoids ranged from 12.8 ± 0.6 mg/kg to 85.8 ± 3.1 mg/kg. Moreover, total glucosinolate content ranged from 65 ± 11 mmol/kg to 1289 ± 65 mmol/kg. The different mashua morphotypes showed low levels of ascorbic acid (lower than 5 mg/kg) compared with other crops. Except for glucosinolates, MeJA application augmented the level of bioactive compounds, showing increases of up to 150.1%, 535.0%, and 542% for total phenolics, carotenoids, and ascorbic acid, respectively. Results indicated that mashua is an excellent source of phenolics and glucosinolates, whereas it contains adequate levels of carotenoids and low levels of vitamin C. MeJA application during postharvest represented a simple approach to increase the content of bioactive compounds in mashua.