Nutraceuticals: A New Millennium Approach for Preventive Medicine

Nutraceuticals are defined as any food bioactive compounds or supplements which provide health and medicinal benefits, usually in the prevention of disease and sometimes playing a role in their treatment as well. Nutraceuticals are a combination of a variety of nutrients ranging from vitamins and minerals to certain amino acids. Nutrients are an essential part of the diet and serve a variety of roles in human physiology through various enzymes which govern biocatalysis in various metabolic pathways including tissue and DNA repair and body defense and immunity. Nutrients that are routinely prescribed as dietary supplements include multivitamins, minerals and certain specific amino acids. Nutraceuticals not only serve a pivotal role in tissue repair and body defense mechanism but also play a crucial role in various signal transduction and metabolic pathways. The deficiency of any crucial nutrient can negatively affect metabolic and transduction pathways which can lead toa variety of diseases and disorders. The preventive use of nutraceuticals is a promising new trend for a variety of diseases and disorders. Nutraceuticals: A New Millennium Approach for Preventive Medicine focuses on the preventive use of nutraceuticals to avoid various diseases and disorders. The chapters cover nutrients and human physiology, metabolism and xenobiotics, plus their use in the prevention and treatment of a wide range of diseases and disorders from cancer to cardiovascular disorders to diabetes and renal diseases. Further chapters study the role nutraceuticals play in the treatment of depression and mental illnesses, neurogenerative diseases and autoimmune diseases. The relationship between nutrients and suboptimal health is explored as are links between nutrition and infertility. As these food supplements continue to gain in popularity with consumers, it is increasingly important to understand their benefits and limitations in the prevention and treatment of various diseases and disorders, and this book offers a fully up-to-date snapshot for researchers.