Nutraceuticals at the Millennium
The role of these newly doc u mented nutraceuticals prom ises far greater im pact on pub lic health and the com mer cial mar ket place is far greater than previously thought.
Abstract
New foods in a new age? Hardly. Yes, there are widely ac claimed new, novel and en hanced nutraceutical and func tional food prod ucts which are de vel oped and mar keted, such as stanal and sterol es ters for cho les terol con trol and vi ta min A en riched “Golden rice.” A great deal more of the re search ac tiv ity oc cur ring is sim ply the doc u men ta tion and met a bolic un der stand ing of the phys i o log i cal im pact of ex ist ing vi ta mins, min er als, and phytochemicals in our cur rent diet. These in clude beta glucan, soy pro tein, fo lic acid, and po tas siumto name a few sub stances rec og nized in FDA ap proved health claims. Be cause of their per va sive ex is tence in the gen eral diet as in gre di ents in in nu mer a ble com mer cial and ev ery day prod ucts, the role of these newly doc u mented nutraceuticals prom ises far greater im pact on pub lic health and the com mer cial mar ket place. This is sue, like re cent ones, ex plores sev eral such com mon foods and their health ben e fit. Grape, wine, and tea are pur vey ors of polyphenols which may pro vide ben e fit against athereosclerosis. The is sue also ex am ines nutraceut icals as pects in volv ing n-3 PUFAs, echinaceasides, and gin seng for an i mal use.