Author Sharma, R., Kumar, S., Kumar, V. and Thakur, A. 2019.
Plants have been claimed to possess potential therapeutic properties, plant derived medicines, contributed towards health and wellbeing, phytochemicals are plant components having discrete bio-activities with a variety of health benefits and are sometimes referred to as functional ingredients/ nutraceutical compounds, phenolics, terpenoids, glucosinolates, pollyacetylene, phytosterols & phytostanols and non-digestible carbohydrates, continuous consumption of fruits and vegetables in regular diet is often correlated with decreased risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and age-related macular degeneration, identification, quantification, standardization of extraction techniques for different compounds, potential nutraceutical ingredients, transition in lifestyle, changes in food consumption pattern combined with a high level of mental stress has resulted increased incidences of lifestyle related problems like heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and hypertension, interest of consumers in specific food or food components which can maintain and improve health over a specific consumption period, improving health and quality of life, plant based bioactive compounds or phytochemicals, applications of phytochemicals , nutraceutical and functional foods, food provides medical or health benefits including the prevention and treatment of disease, Nutraceutical is a product isolated or purified from foods , functional ingredients, bioactive or nutraceutical compounds, view the potential of these compounds in health care system, different types of phytochemicals along with their health-promoting activities and potential use as functional food ingredient or food supplements, Phytochemicals are bio chemicals produced in plants by primary or secondary metabolic processes and possess biological activity, protect cellular systems from oxidative damage, In nature more than 4,000 phytochemicals, mostly classified on the basis of their biological activity, physical characteristics and chemical characteristics, Phenolics constitute the largest category of phytochemicals, Flavonoids, phenolic acids and stilbenes (sometimes also known as tannins, role in suppressing free radical-mediated disease processes, Role of dietary phenolics in suppression of weight gain and inhibition of fatty acid biosynthesis, Stilbenes are small molecular weight phenolics (approximately 200-300 g/mol), aroma therapy products and dietary supplements, Hypolipidemic properties of ferulic acid are helpful in lowering obesity linked to high fat diet and can also reduce serum cholesterol, protects liver injury and most importantly it is a potent tumor inhibitor, tannins and can be categorized into two classes i.e. hydrolysable tannins and condensed tannins, resveratrol is an important stilbene found in grape skin which has anti inflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-oxidant activities, resveratrol which can effectively promote vasorelaxation, decrease platelet aggregation, reduce lipid peroxidation, suppress atherosclerosis and improve serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, Flavonoids constitute one of the largest groups under phenols and they are the compounds with low molecular weight and a wide spectrum occurrence, flavonoids are further grouped into two different categories viz. anthocyanins and anthoxanthins, strong inverse association between occurrence of coronary heart diseases and flavonol and flavones intake. The anticarcinogenic, antiobesity and antiproliferative effects of flavonoids and quercetin are now well explained and they have been reported to inhibit adipogenesis and induce apoptosis, isoflavones , polyphenols, intake of 23 mg/day ?avonol and ?avones in Dutch diet effectively inflicted the nutraceutical action, Terpenoids have a wide range of biological functions and have been used in preparation of functional foods, flavorings, bio-colorants pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, disinfectants and agrichemicals, Terpenoids are also well recognized for their role in stress response or defense mechanisms, Tocopherol, ?-d-tocopherol (vitamin E) has been extensively reviewed for its antioxidant potential and is also reported effective apoptotic inducers for human breast cancer cells, Carotenoids, Carotenes (?-carotene, lycopene and lutein), a type of Carotenoids have a tissue specific biological activity and have been reported to protect against uterine, prostate, breast, colorectal and lung cancers, Zeaxanthin, cryoptoxanthin and astazanthin are important forms of xanthophyll which are used as functional food ingredients in various preparations, Glucosinolates (GLS), Polyacetylenes are chemically reactive natural metabolites isolated from different flora, Phytosterols and Phytostenols, Plants contain a large variety of sterols, which are collectively known as ‘phytosterols, Phytosterols occur in five common forms viz.(i) free alcohol (FS), (ii) fatty-acid esters (SE), (iii) steryl glycosides (SG), (iv) acylated steryl glycosides (ASG) and (v) phytosteryl hydroxycinnamic-acid esters (HSE), sitosterol, sitostanol, campesterol and campestan, Non-digestible carbohydrates (NDC) are complex, heterogeneous dietary substances derived principally from plants. There are 3 main types of NDC namely (i) non-starch polysaccharides (NSP), (ii) resistant starch (RS) and (iii) nondigestible oligosaccharides (NDOs), water-soluble fibre (non-starchy polysaccharides, mainly ?-glucan) and water-insoluble fibre (lignin, cellulose, hemicelluloses and arabinoxylan), cellulose, non-cellulosic polymers and pectic polysaccharides, Nutritionally one of most important dietary fibre is ?-glucan which have been recognized to be present in various forms with distinctly important positive therapeutic properties with protection against coronary heart disease and reduction of cholesterol and glycemic response, It is difficult to establish a clear functional and structural similarity or difference among different phytochemicals especially their relationship regarding effects on biological systems. This is due to their wide spectrum occurrence, structural similarity and complexity of physiological reactions
