The term ‘Nutraceutical’ finds its name on functional food with nutritional and medicinal value to provide better health; prevention and alleviation of disease, or to support selective lifestyle and activity. Such ‘purpose driven food’ could derive from conventional over the counter vitamin & mineral supplements; herbs; probiotics; kefir; polyphenols. These foods are made available in liquid, powder, caplets, raw or from an energy bar comprises of compressed cereals, nuts, kernels and fruits. Certain countries recognise ‘Functional Food’ as a common source to supply medical or physiological functions, however there are nations describe nutraceutical purely as ‘singularly potent’ as its effect is stronger and safer.

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Like customary health supplements, nutraceuticals contain the following dietary ingredients such as: minerals, vitamins, amino acids, medicinal herbs, or other botanical substances, usually used as our supplementary diet. But what makes nutraceutical slightly different is that it also helps with disease prevention and treatment instead of just providing nutrition to the body. Cancer treatment requires a huge commitment, from monetary resources to coping with emotional wellbeing besides surgery, and possibly procedures in further toxic based treatments. We could however take precautional measures in our daily lifestyles such as being mindful on the choices of our food and its nutrition; positive inclined perceptions; and perhaps consider ‘early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise’ sleeping routine. Such positive transformation can reduce cancer and hence its decline has been realised in recent times.

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Having an adequate amount of nutrition in our everyday life is vital to our body because it supplies the daily metabolic requirements for us to function normally and effectively. According to the ‘Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences’ by Pravin Shende, Drashti Desai and Gaud RS, it has been proven cancer emerges due to nutrient deficiency in their animal study. As such, imbalanced nutrition and food caused 30 percent of cancers. With nutraceuticals, the DNA damaging factors in cancer cells and DNA transcription in tumours can be managed and regulated as the functional foods possess numerous therapeutic benefits: immune enhancement; and anti-inflammatory effects to name a few besides overall general wellbeing. In today’s world, nutraceuticals have received considerable interests and recognition due to potential nutritional’s safety and therapeutic effects. Not only that, recent studies have shown promising results for these compounds to treat these complications. It is believed that nutraceuticals will play an important role in future therapeutic developments as it creates an open environment for new products that promise new and advanced solutions to health-related issues.

 

Written & Edited by Genopharma's Marketing & Communication Team
Date: 1st March 2018

Works Cited

• Pravin Shende, D. D. (2016, March 30). Research and Reviews: Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Retrieved February 21, 2018, from Research & Reviews | International Journals: http://www.rroij.com/open-access/nutraceuticals- an-imperative- to-wellness- .pdf