The latter portion of the twentieth century was a time of great strides in modifying the way many nutritionists and health care practitioners viewed nutrition. For decades we made nutritional recommendations based upon what needed to be avoided or limited in our diet choices. The nutritional “bad guys” were fat, which evolved to saturated fat-rich foods, cholesterol, sodium, and arguably sugar. Today it is quite clear that the other side of the nutrition coin, or “what we should eat,” is probably as significant as “what we should not eat.” Nutraceuticals are substances found in natural foods that seem to have the potential to prevent disease or be used in the treatment of various disorders. Meanwhile, functional foods are the foods in which one or more nutraceuticals can be found. Nutraceutical substances include some of the more recognized nutrients such as vitamins C and E and the mineral calcium, but also include such substances as genestein, capsaicin, allium compounds, carotenoids (for example, lutein, lycopene, and zeathanxin) phytosterols, glucosamine, catechins (such as EGCG), fiber (psyllium, oat bran) (see Tables 3.5 through 3.7).
Nutraceuticals are nutrients in foods that can promote better health and/or support disease prevention.
As you may have already surmised, it is possible for a nutraceutical to be an essential nutrient. However, keep in mind that the nutraceutical
properties of certain essential nutrients may not be why they are essential in the first place. For instance, vitamin C is essential for making important molecules in our body such as collagen, yet its nutraceutical roles may be more related to its antioxidant activities, such as helping to prevent degenerative eye disorders—for example, cataracts and macular degeneration. We will spend more time discussing nutraceutical compounds in the later chapters. We are going to be hearing more and more about nutraceuticals for years to come.
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