Nutraceuticals : A Holistic Approach to Disease Prevention

The term nutraceuticals is applied to the products isolated from the herbal sources, nutrients or dietary supplements, processed foods, (cereals, soup and beverages) and specific diets, that may also used as medicine other than nutrition. It usually refers to the foods derived products which may sell in medicinal form, possessing physiological benefits to the host while promoting health and wellness and provide protection against chronic disorders. They may also increase the life expectancy, delay the aging and/or support the structure and function of the body organs. Demand for nutraceuticals with potential to prevent and treat chronic disorders has been interestingly increasing over the past few years. Based on food sources, nutraceuticals are classified into dietary fibers, probiotics, prebiotics, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), vitamins, polyphenols and spices.

A dietary supplement is generally considered as product containing vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and medicinal plants that are indented to be used to supplement the diet or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combinations of these ingredients. Broadly, nutraceuticals are any of these ingredients or supplements using for health purposes other than nutrition.

This book on the fundamentals of Nutraceuticals is organized in two parts i.e., the introductory aspects of macro- and micro-nutrients, gut microbiota regulation, nutraceuticals and drug interactions, while the second part is focusing on the biological benefits of nutraceuticals in different disease states. Besides, this book is also addressing the safety aspects of nutraceuticals and phytotherapeutic support in pregnancy. Including contributions from the experts in the field, target audience (pharmacists, nutritionists, other healthcare providers, and researchers in food and nutrition sector) will be benefited with the updated literature on nutraceuticals and dietary supplements.

Hammad Ullah, PhD, works at the Nutraceutical Products Lobaratory in the Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples Federico II, Naples Italy. Dr. H Ullah obtained PhD degree in “Nutraceuticals, Functional foods, and Human health” at the Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples Federico II Naples Italy, in liaison with the research laboratory of Prof. Jianbo Xiao at the Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, University of Vigo Spain. Dr. H Ullah focuses mainly on the comprehensive utilization of natural products, with the aim of the development of nutraceuticals and food supplements. His key interests include biological assessment of natural products; metabolic profiling of botanical extracts via HPLC and LC-MS analysis techniques; in vitro bioaccessibility and bioavailability determination of food supplements. Since 2018, Dr. H Ullah has authored or co-authored more than 50 scientific articles and book chapters (Google scholar citations 1347 and h-index 18). His scientific contributions are recognized by “1-EuSPMF, Belgrade Serbia” and “MONASH INITIATE 2022, Monash University Malaysia” by awarding him with Best Oral Presentation and Young Researcher Awards, respectively. Dr H Ullah was also awarded with Dra. Mariola Macías Award 2023 by the “Phytochemical Society of Europe” for the best scientific contribution in Natural Product Sciences carried out by a young researcher during the year 2022/2023.
Abdur Rauf, PhD, works at the Department of Chemistry, University of Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. He completed his Ph.D. at the Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar, Pakistan in 2015. His research work focuses on Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, and nanotechnology. Abdur Rauf is the author and co-author of more than 366 research papers published in peer-reviewed journals (impact factor = 1530.80), with 10048 citations per a Google Scholar report. In addition, he has an H-index of 49 and an i10 index of 216 (Google Scholar). He has also written twobooks as Editor and 33 book chapters for international Book publishers. He also published one US patent and submitted one national and three international patents for the discovery of novel drugs. Furthermore, he has the Associate Editor/Editorial Board member of several journals including Frontier in Pharmacology, Medicinal Chemistry, Green Processing and Synthesis, Open Chemistry, and Medicinal Chemistry, among others. Abdur Rauf won the Young Scientist Award from the Directorate of Science and Technology in 2018 and the Research Productivity Award for 2016-17, from the Pakistan Science Foundation. He has also among World’s Top 1 % Highly Cited Researchers 2022 list released by Clarivate. He has also won 09 national and 10 international projects. As a scientist in the past few years, I contributed a lot to the fields of medicinal chemistry, Pharmacology, and nanotechnology. His research interests also include exploring the local natural resources (i.e. Pakistani flora) for efficient treatment of different health disorders, which in turn would significantly impact the national economy.
Maria Daglia, PhD, obtained her degree in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Technologies in 1989 at the University of Pavia – Italy (110/110 cum laude). In 1993, she received her Ph.D. in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, in 1996, she obtained her Specialization in “Farmacia Industriale” (50/50) and a Post-Doctoral fellowship at the University of Pavia. In 2002, she became Assistant Professor in Food Chemistry, in 2015 she was an Associate Professor in Food Chemistry at the University of Pavia. From 2019 she is a Full Professor in Food Chemistry at the University of Naples Federico II and Guest Professor at the International Research Center for Food Nutrition and Safety, Jiangsu University, China. Maria Daglia scientific activity is focused on the study of functional properties of foods and the development of analytical methods for the determination of food and natural compounds. Prof. Daglia research activity is documented by 167 scientific papers, 132 communications to congresses and 3 book chapters (Total citations 32554; h-index 73).