scholarly journals Omics Technologies to Enhance Plant Based Functional Foods: An Overview

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spurthi N. Nayak ◽  
B. Aravind ◽  
Sachin S. Malavalli ◽  
B. S. Sukanth ◽  
R. Poornima ◽  
...  

Functional foods are natural products of plants that have health benefits beyond necessary nutrition. Functional foods are abundant in fruits, vegetables, spices, beverages and some are found in cereals, millets, pulses and oilseeds. Efforts to identify functional foods in our diet and their beneficial aspects are limited to few crops. Advances in sequencing and availability of different omics technologies have given opportunity to utilize these tools to enhance the functional components of the foods, thus ensuring the nutritional security. Integrated omics approaches including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics coupled with artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches can be used to improve the crops. This review provides insights into omics studies that are carried out to find the active components and crop improvement by enhancing the functional compounds in different plants including cereals, millets, pulses, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, spices, beverages and medicinal plants. There is a need to characterize functional foods that are being used in traditional medicines, as well as utilization of this knowledge to improve the staple foods in order to tackle malnutrition and hunger more effectively.

Author(s):  
Santosh Jain Passi

Functional foods containing physiologically-active components, have been reported to confer several health benefits. Longitudinal cohort studies indicate that certain foods and dietary patterns play an important role in primary prevention of numerous disease conditions and this has led to the identification of putative functional foods. Research is necessary to substantiate the potential health benefits of various functional foods for which the diet–health relationships have yet not been scientifically validated. The term ‘functional foods' may include health/functional health foods, foods fortified with minerals/vitamins, dietary supplements or even the traditional medicines (Zawistowski, 2014).


Author(s):  
Santosh Jain Passi

Functional foods containing physiologically-active components, have been reported to confer several health benefits. Longitudinal cohort studies indicate that certain foods and dietary patterns play an important role in primary prevention of numerous disease conditions and this has led to the identification of putative functional foods. Research is necessary to substantiate the potential health benefits of various functional foods for which the diet–health relationships have yet not been scientifically validated. The term ‘functional foods' may include health/functional health foods, foods fortified with minerals/vitamins, dietary supplements or even the traditional medicines (Zawistowski, 2014).


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Igor G. Loskutov ◽  
Elena K. Khlestkina

Cereal grains provide half of the calories consumed by humans. In addition, they contain important compounds beneficial for health. During the last years, a broad spectrum of new cereal grain-derived products for dietary purposes emerged on the global food market. Special breeding programs aimed at cultivars utilizable for these new products have been launched for both the main sources of staple foods (such as rice, wheat, and maize) and other cereal crops (oat, barley, sorghum, millet, etc.). The breeding paradigm has been switched from traditional grain quality indicators (for example, high breadmaking quality and protein content for common wheat or content of protein, lysine, and starch for barley and oat) to more specialized ones (high content of bioactive compounds, vitamins, dietary fibers, and oils, etc.). To enrich cereal grain with functional components while growing plants in contrast to the post-harvesting improvement of staple foods with natural and synthetic additives, the new breeding programs need a source of genes for the improvement of the content of health benefit components in grain. The current review aims to consider current trends and achievements in wheat, barley, and oat breeding for health-benefiting components. The sources of these valuable genes are plant genetic resources deposited in genebanks: landraces, rare crop species, or even wild relatives of cultivated plants. Traditional plant breeding approaches supplemented with marker-assisted selection and genetic editing, as well as high-throughput chemotyping techniques, are exploited to speed up the breeding for the desired genotуpes. Biochemical and genetic bases for the enrichment of the grain of modern cereal crop cultivars with micronutrients, oils, phenolics, and other compounds are discussed, and certain cases of contributions to special health-improving diets are summarized. Correlations between the content of certain bioactive compounds and the resistance to diseases or tolerance to certain abiotic stressors suggest that breeding programs aimed at raising the levels of health-benefiting components in cereal grain might at the same time match the task of developing cultivars adapted to unfavorable environmental conditions.


Author(s):  
Dimple . ◽  
Ashwani Kumar ◽  
Vikas Kumar ◽  
Vidisha Tomer

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease which has clinched the world. More than 300 million people of the world are suffering from this disease and the number is still increasing at a rapid rate as modern medical science has no permanent solution for the disease. Current scenario of the nutraceuticals has increased patient’s faith on the traditional medicinal system and world nutraceutical industry is estimated to reach $285.0 billion by 2021. The increasing trend of nutraceuticals in diabetes treatment makes it important to collect the traditional knowledge of medicines under one heading as it can help researchers to formulate new functional foods and nutraceuticals which can either lower down the risk or cure DM. In addition, the discussion of market available food products, their active components and possible health benefits can help the patients to understand the herbal medicines in a better way.


2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (02) ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Petreska Ivanovska ◽  
Maja Jurhar Pavlova ◽  
Kristina Mladenovska ◽  
Lidija Petrushevska-Tozi

Probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics are functional components able to exert positive effects on human health. Numerous medical conditions lack effective and safe approaches for prevention or treatment, thus usage of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics is an alternative. Further, the benefit related to the consumption of these compounds is associated with lower morbidity of chronic diseases and reduced health-care costs. Various types of mediums to deliver probiotics/synbiotics to the human GIT are used. Although capsules and tablets are frequently applied as delivery systems for probiotics, the major challenge of the commercial sector is to market new functional foods containing probiotics and/or prebiotics. Discovering of new probiotic/synbiotic functional foods is connected to the interest of the food industry to revitalize continuously through introduction of products with improved nutritional value and pleasant taste, but also with health benefit for the consumers. The review provides insights and new perspectives in respect to usage of functional components and foods in prevention and treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) that are highly correlated with the modern lifestyle. The therapeutic and safety properties of probiotics and prebiotics, their role in pathogenesis of IBD, potential to prevent and treat these diseases as well as postulated mechanisms of action will be discussed, highlighting the main areas in which further research is an emergence.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Xiaolong Ji ◽  
Mingsong Yin ◽  
Hui Nie ◽  
Yanqi Liu

Recently, polysaccharides from Bletilla striata, a member of the orchidaceous family, aroused the wide interest of people, especially their isolation, chemical properties, and bioactivities. It is reported that these polysaccharides are the most important biologically active components of B. striata, exhibiting various biological activities, such as immunomodulatory, antioxidant, antifibrotic, and hemostatic effects. This review appraised the available literatures which described different aspects of B. striata polysaccharides, including the extraction, separation, purification, structural characterization, and biological activities. We expect to lay the foundation for further investigation of the application of B. striata polysaccharides in the field of functional foods and biomedicine.


2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (8A) ◽  
pp. 1136-1140 ◽  
Author(s):  
RM Ortega

AbstractObjectiveAnalyse the importance of components of Mediterranean diet in functional feeding.DesignWe have based the study in a bibliographic review.ResultsMany of the characteristic components of the traditional Mediterranean diet (MD) are known to have positive effects on health, capacity and well-being, and can be used to design functional foods. Vegetables, fruits and nuts are all rich in phenols, flavonoids, isoflavonoids, phytosterols and phytic acid—essential bioactive compounds providing health benefits. The polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish effectively regulate haemostatic factors, protect against cardiac arrhythmias, cancer and hypertension, and play a vital role in the maintenance of neural functions and the prevention of certain psychiatric disorders. Accumulating evidence suggests that olive oil, an integral component of the MD, may have health benefits, including the reduction of the risk of coronary heart disease, the prevention of several types of cancer and the modification of the immune and inflammatory responses. Olive oil is known for its high levels of monounsaturated fatty acids and is a good source of phytochemicals, such as polyphenolic compounds, squalene and α-tocopherol.In the context of the MD, the benefits associated with the consumption of several functional components may be intensified by certain forms of food preparation. In addition, the practice of more physical activity (once common among Mediterranean populations) and the following of other healthy lifestyle habits may have additive effects.ConclusionsThe identification of the active constituents of the MD is crucial in the formulation of appropriate dietary guidelines. Research into the pharmacological properties of the minor components of this diet (vitamins, sterols, polyphenols, etc.) is very active and could lead to the formulation of functional foods and nutraceuticals.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Sajid Arshad ◽  
Waseem Khalid ◽  
Rabia Shabir Ahmad ◽  
Muhammad Kamran Khan ◽  
Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad ◽  
...  

Functional food is a whole ingredient or a part of food that used as food for specific therapeutic purposes. It is divided into two wide categories: Conventional and modified functional foods. Conventional functional Foods are composed of natural or whole-food ingredients that provide functional substances while modified functional is food or food products in which add additional ingredients for specific health purposes. Plant-based food such as fruits, vegetables, herbs, cereals, nuts and beans contain vitamins, minerals, fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and phenolic compounds that play a functional role in the human body against chronic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular and GIT-related disease. Some other foods or food products like juices, dairy products, fortified eggs and seafood are composed of functional components. Fish contain omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) that are played a functional role in heart health and brain development.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yihua Li ◽  
Zhiyun Luo ◽  
Yupeng Chen ◽  
Kexin Wang ◽  
Yi Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction: Sick sinus syndrome (SSS) is a common cardiovascular disease without available oral drugs for a long-term routine treatment, which can be treated by Shenfu Decoction (SFD) according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinical applications. The purpose of this research is to decode the therapeutic mechanisms of SFD in treating SSS as well as interpret the synergistic relationship of herbs in SFD through the method of systematic pharmacology.Methods: We established a novel systematic pharmacological model, which integrate pharmacokinetic parameters, pharmacological data and network topology analysis, to effectively screen the key components of SFD. Based on the key components, gene ontology, pathway enrichment and molecular docking were used to clarify and validate the therapeutic mechanisms of SFD in treating SSS and the synergistic relationship of herbs in SFD. Results: Through our proposed mathematical model, we retrieved 55 components which were defined as synergistic functional components group (SFCG) from 209 potential active components of SFD screened by ADME parameters. Pathway analysis of SFCG targets indicated that RS and FZ could synergistically target to neuroactive ligand-receptor reaction, cAMP signaling pathway, calcium signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, Rap1 signaling pathway and other pathways to treat SSS. Additionally, molecular docking analysis showed that the average affinity of SFCG and targets involved in the key pathways reached -6.36 kcal/mmol, validating the synergistic effect of RS and FZ in treating SSS.Conclusions: The therapeutic effect of SFD on SSS may be due to its functions of regulating ion channel function, signal transduction and energy metabolism. Besides, we found that the synergistic relationship between RS and FZ can be described at the levels of target, function and pathway.


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