Role of nutraceuticals in human health

Abstract

Nutraceutical is the hybrid of 'nutrition' and 'pharmaceutical'. Nutraceuticals, in broad, are food or part of food playing a significant role in modifying and maintaining normal physiological function that maintains healthy human beings. The principal reasons for the growth of the nutraceutical market worldwide are the current population and the health trends. The food products used as nutraceuticals can be categorized as dietary fibre, prebiotics, probiotics, polyunsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants and other different types of herbal/ natural foods. These nutraceuticals help in combating some of the major health problems of the century such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, cholesterol etc. In whole, 'nutraceutical' has lead to the new era of medicine and health, in which the food industry has become a research oriented sector.

Keywords: Dietary fiber; Human diet; Polyphenols; Prebiotics; Probiotics; Spices.

Fig. 1

Therapeutic areas covered by nutraceutical products

Fig. 2

Nutraceutical market in different countries

Fig. 3

Clinical conditions involving reactive oxygen species

Fig. 4

Proposed mechanistic scheme for prevention of cancer by dietary polyphenols

Fig. 5

Free radical scavenging ability of some tropical legumes. VUW V. unguiculata (white); VUI V. unguiculata (IT8PD-997 (white)); VUD V. unguiculata (brown drum); VUB V. unguiculata (brown); VUIB V. unguiculata (Ifebrown); CCB C. cajan (brown); CCW C. cajan (white); SST S. sternocarpa (kokondo). Source: Oboh (2006)

Fig. 6

Summary of potential health benefits of spices