Indian herbs as functional foods

Title : Indian herbs as functional foods

Abstract:

Indian herbs are increasingly recognized for their functional food properties, meaning they offer health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Many Indian herbs and spices are rich in bioactive compounds like antioxidants, anti- inflammatory, and other phytochemicals that can contribute to overall health and well-being. Combining traditional knowledge with modern scientific research is crucial for understanding and utilizing the full potential of Indian herbs as functional foods. Functional foods are classified as conventional foods, fortified foods, enhanced foods, medical foods, foods for specified dietary use, nutraceuticals prebiotics and probiotics. The health benefits of herbal functional foods are ensuring normal physiological functions in the body such as improving gastrointestinal health, enhancing the immune system, weight management, and providing better skeletal health, among others, in order to reduce blood cholesterol, oxidative stress, the risk of cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory diseases, various types of cancers, and possible prevention of diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. Nutritional Value of 16 Indian Herbs and Bioactive Compounds as functional foods are discussed.

Biography:

Dr. P. Sathiyamoorthy obtained his doctoral degree from the Bharathidasan University, Thiruchirappalli, India. He has awarded Mombosho scholarship to do research at Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan. He worked as post doctoral fellow at Ben-Gurion University, Israel for three years. Now he is working as chief scientist at Gem Research Foundation, Chennai, for more than two decades. His research interests include environmental science, algal biotechnology, ethnomedicine and herbal drug formulations. He has published more than 50 scientific articles in the national and international journals. He has served as Editor for Herbal Tech Industry – a monthly journal for one year. He is also founder and President of Indian Ethnomedicine Research Foundation a Non-Government Organization having international scientists from Japan, Belgium, and Israel as advisors.