Nutraceuticals and antioxidants in prevention of diseases

Abstract

Drugs and food from natural origin play an important role in public health-care system throughout the world. The word nutraceutical is a broad term describing foods, food ingredients, and dietary supplements that provide specific health or medical benefits, in addition to the basic nutritional value found in the food. A significant source for nutraceutical ingredients is bioactive phytochemicals like alkaloids, various terpenoids, and polyphenols (anthocyanins, flavones, flavanols, isoflavones, stilbenes, ellagic acid, etc.). A variety of these phytochemical compounds form an integral part of the nutraceutical market being antioxidants, and they help in the prevention of many degenerative and chronic diseases. In this review, classification of nutraceuticals, phytochemical classes as nutraceutical ingredients, antioxidants as nutraceuticals, and advantages and drawbacks along with nutraceutical market development are discussed.