Nutraceutical and bioactive healthy compounds in vegetable crops

Abstract

Nutraceuticals have been successfully applied as sustainable alternatives for the control and prevention of large number of diseases. In day to day life Nutraceuticals have received considerable attention because they are harmless, efficient and have potential nutritional value as well as therapeutic effects. Among natural dietary supplements, vegetables being low in calories are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals. They play an important role in the human diet and are rich sources of biologically active compounds which are very essential for human beings. Phyto-nutraceuticals include lycopene from tomato, curcumin from turmeric, carotenoids from carrot etc are very popular. Number of studies has proved that vegetables contain more health giving ingredients as sugars, amino acids and vitamins have long been recognized for their health benefits to humans. As technology and research techniques are improving, other substances in vegetables that were previously ignored are getting the spotlight. Another active nutraceutical ingredients in vegetables are flavonoids. They can act as potent antioxidants and metal chelators. They also have long been recognized to possess anti inflammatory, antiallergic, hepatoprotective, antithrombotic, antiviral, and anti carcinogenic activities. Antibacterial activity has been displayed by a number of flavonoids. Flavonoids, especially quercetin, has been reported to possess antidiabetic activity. The potential great number of phytochemicals including some of the vitamins, flavonoids, terpenoids, carotenoids, phenolics, phytoestrogens, minerals and antioxidants in vegetables are used as alternative preservative agents for controlling postharvest physiological disorders or microbial pathogen injuries of vegetables in the food industry. Moreover, these natural compounds have become interesting candidates not only for plant protection but also human and animal health protection from fungal and bacterial diseases because of their lower toxicity or absence of toxicity. The present review will focus on Nutraceutical value of vegetables.