Nutraceuticals: An Uphill Journey

The increased tendency to develop better nutraceuticals has opened new vistas for pharma people. Due to their obvious advantages they are proving themselves as emerging vital and better alternatives to be employed as medicines.Introduction:It is common knowledge that foods provide nutrients that help to nourish our bodies and keep our systems in proper working condition. However, from early in human history, it was also known that certain foods confer additional health benefits to humans such as prevention and treatment of various types of diseases. “Let food be thy medicine” is a popular quote from Hippocrates that emphasizes the role of foods in disease prevention and recognizes a separate role for foods in addition to their being simply nutrient providers. Recently, scientists have become focused on the health-promoting effects of foods and there is now abundant evidence that supports the role of various foods/food components in promoting human health. Such health-promoting foods or compounds are generally classified into 2 major categories: