Nutraceutical Research Paper

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Nutraceuticals refer to extracts of foods claimed to have medicinal effect on human health. Nutraceuticals are a large and diverse class of compounds, which occur naturally in plants. Although these compounds are considered non-nutritive, many of them possess antioxidant, antimutagenic, anti-oestrogenic, anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory properties that might potentially be beneficial in preventing diseases and protecting the stability of the genome. The term ‘nutraceutical’ was coined from ‘nutrition’ and ‘pharmaceutical’ in 1989 by Dr. Stephen DeFelice (source: American Nutraceutical Association). According to DeFelice, a nutraceutical is any substance that is a food or a part of food and provides medical or health benefits, including…show more content…
In the United States, the term nutraceutical is commonly used in marketing and has no regulatory definition. One of the most important growing trends in food industry today is the demand for all natural food ingredients free of chemical additives. Increase in health awareness caused major changes in food, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. The nutraceutical market has grown multifold both in developed and developing countries. People are becoming more concerned about their well being and are shifting to nutraceutical products to prevent the onset of any chronic disease like diabetes, heart ailments, hypertension, weight gain and…show more content…
They are gaining popularity because of several advantages such as fewer side effects, better patient tolerance, relatively low price and acceptance due to a long history of use. The more important cause is that natural products provide rational means for the treatment of many diseases that are obstinate and incurable. The nutraceutical products are normally prepared from the extracts of purified bioactive components. Since nutraceuticals have broad application areas in various fields, it creates unlimited scope for exploring them in research. The undisputed efficacy of phytochemicals has drawn attention towards their extraction and separation from their natural origin to derive drugs. Table 1.1 gives a representative list of natural products and their therapeutic

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