Abstract

NEW CONCEPT IN NUTRACEUTICAL AS ALTERNATIVE FOR PHARMACEUTICALS

Vaishali D. Magar*, Prajakta Sonwane, Dr. Sudarshan Nagrale, Dr. Amita Dongare

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Abstract

Using food products to promote health and cure disease is renowned. Currently, most of the drug molecules available in the formulations were anciently used in their crude form. Dr Stephen De Felice first coins the term nutraceuticals in 1989 to provide medical or health benefits including the prevention and treatment of diseases. Nutraceuticals are products, which other than nutrition are also used as medicine. A nutraceutical product may be defined as a substance, which has physiological benefit or provides protection against chronic disease. Nutraceuticals may be used to improve health, delay the aging process, prevent chronic diseases, increase life expectancy or support the structure or function of the body. Nowadays, nutraceuticals have received considerable interest due to potential nutritional, safety and therapeutic effects. Recent studies have shown promising results for these compounds in various complications. In the present review much effort has been devoted to present new concepts about nutraceuticals based on their diseases modifying indications. The recently published papers about different aspects of nutraceuticals as alternative for pharmaceuticals were used terms included nutraceutical an allergy, cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes, immune, obesity.

Keywords: Antioxidants, nutrition, food supplements, nutraceutical products, nutraceuticals, oxidative stress.