This new book provides a comprehensive overview of the health benefits of various natural sources such as fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices. It covers multiple topics, including the history of nutraceuticals, their advantages and disadvantages, and the various nutrients found in natural food sources. The book also provides detailed advice on how to incorporate nutraceuticals into a healthy diet and helpful tips on identifying and purchasing nutraceuticals.
This book examines the current state of nutraceuticals, including their development and use in the medical and commercial fields. It also looks at the potential for developing new nutraceuticals in the future. It covers nanotechnology-based nutraceuticals, role of nanotechnology in nutraceuticals, and the use of nanoparticulate delivery system in nutraceuticals.
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The Nature of Nutraceuticals
See some chose chapters in the following and see the full book here
PART I: Nutraceutical history and human health
Chapter 1, A Brief History of Nutraceuticals, written by Sunil Kumar Verma et al., provides an overview of the history and definition of nutraceuticals, their applications, regulatory background, and future issues involved in comprehending and characterizing nutraceuticals, which are still indistinguishable. The role of many bioactive chemicals operating as nutraceuticals in Chapter 2, Nutraceuticals and Human Health, has been explored by Dheeraj Chitara and his colleagues. The nutraceutical value of various microorganisms along with their key role in the prevention and treatment of many human health problems has been reviewed and discussed by Smriti Gaur and coworkers in Chapter 3, Role of Microbial Nutraceuticals in Promoting Human Health. Tarkeshwar et al. present information on nutraceutical fruits or their compounds that are reported to be potential candidates against gut-related diseases in Chapter 4, Role of Fruit Nutraceuticals in Gut-Related Diseases.
A brief history of nutraceuticals
Abstract Chapter 1
Consumers are looking for something more, or, better phrased, less in the large array of different medicines capable of healing or preventing ailments. They are reverting to “how it once was,” with the mindset that “natural is superior.” Data reveal that the market for natural products and functional meals is worth 281.4 billion dollars in 2021 and is expected to grow to $529.66 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 9.5% in the period 2021–2028. Natural sources of bioactive chemicals offer numerous advantages: they can be found virtually anywhere, are inexpensive, and have favorable health effects, or so it is claimed. Natural sources include food, dietary supplements, medicinal plants, bioactive food waste, etc. The goal of using natural goods is usually to avoid the onset of specific ailments. There has been an apparent paradigm shift from cure to prevention, with people increasingly turning to healthy lifestyles, dietary supplements, or nutraceuticals to avoid or delay the onset of specific ailments. These naturally occurring bioactive substances open up a whole new market for pharmaceutical companies investing more money in dietary supplement development and new potential for the food business to create, promote, and sell functional food items. However, the existence of a so-called “grey area” between pharmaceuticals and food is becoming more pronounced, particularly for bioactive-containing products that claim to have health benefits but have not yet been scientifically proven. This chapter provides an overview of the history and definition of nutraceuticals, their applications, regulatory background, and future issues involved in comprehending and characterizing nutraceuticals, which are still indistinguishable.
Role of Nanotechnology in Nutraceuticals
Nutraceutical bioavailability in food matrices, viz., functional foods, and food excipients, has been improved using various techniques. A few strategies have been developed to make nutraceuticals more soluble. In contrast, others have looked at how to increase the release of nutraceuticals, and still, others have been made to increase nutraceutical absorption via biological membranes. The use of nanocarriers in biomacromolecule delivery systems has shown to be a more successful strategy since they can be modified to optimize all aspects that affect nutraceutical bioavailability. Protecting 116nutraceuticals against environmental factors such as oxygen, heat, light, and humidity with GI (gastrointestinal) tract factors such as pH, and enzymes which degrade nutraceuticals, is one of the many benefits of bioactiveloaded nanocarriers. The bioactive-loaded nanocarriers’ size varied from 1 to 100 nm, and a substantial interfacial surface with a superficial electrical charge and a range of carrier materials provided these advantages. A regulated release of bioactive-loaded nanocarriers in the GI tract and increased residence duration enhanced intestinal penetration, transcellular delivery, and water solubility. Several businesses and academic research teams have recently developed various encapsulation techniques for lipophilic and hydrophilic nutraceuticals.
Kesharwani, R.K., Kumar, P., & Keservani, R.K. (Eds.). (2025). The Nature of Nutraceuticals: History, Properties, Sources, and Nanotechnology (1st ed.). Apple Academic Press.
https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003518969
