Current Nutrition & Food Science - Volume 5, Issue 4, 2009

Flavonoids are a large group of ubiquitous molecules synthesized by plants. Recent research has revealed that these molecules possess antioxidant activities which prevent free-radical damage to biological molecules like lipids, proteins and DNA, damage which can cause many cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases as well as cancer and diabetes. The underlying mechanisms involve metal chelation, free-radical scave Read More

This review is focussed on an update of the validity of ‘Metabolic programming’. The related concepts of critical windows and thrifty phenotype are also analyzed. The present concept of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) with its varied entries is considered not only because of the importance of fetal growth assessment but also for the precision that has been given to the neonatal status assessment. Particularly the perinatal n Read More

Lettuce is a popular leafy vegetable and plays an important role in American diet and nutrition. Crisphead lettuce has much lower nutrient content than leaf and romaine types. As the synthesis or absorption of many nutrients is light dependent, the lower nutritional value of crisphead lettuce is due to the enclosure of its leaves in a head structure. In addition to varietal differences, nutritional quality of lettuce may be influenced Read More

Polyphenols are among a wide variety of active photochemicals present in the human diet. Basic researches and epidemiological studies have shown the inverse association between risk of cancer, CVDs, diabetes, several age related chronic diseases and intake of diet rich in polyphenols. Recent researches have opened the possibility of dietary polyphenols to be considered as phytomedicine. Most of the studies on the bio Read More

In addition to their nutritive value, foods provide health benefits or have a role in disease prevention since they contain a wide range of phytochemicals which represent functional or bioactive components. These bioactive molecules present in foods are based on a variety of chemical structures, from carotenoids, through sterols and fatty acids, to different types of polyphenols. In this review, the polyphenols which are Read More