Traditional Food Adjuncts: Sustainable and Healthy Option for Functional Foods

Abstract

Food adjuncts include an assortment of items that are consumed as an accompaniment to the staple food and add variety, spice, and crunch to the common menu with standard items. Indian traditional food adjuncts include pickle, chutney (wet and dry), preserves, wadis, papad, salads, sauces, etc. Different ingredients such as fruits, vegetables, pulses, oilseeds, spices, and condiments in various types of adjuncts make it difficult to generalize the nutritional importance. Although consumed in small portions, adjuncts play an important role in nutrition and health. The food adjuncts are good sources of functional components, e.g., proteins, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. The ingredients like curry leaves, coriander leaves, mint leaves, green chilies, tomatoes, Bengal gram, black gram, sesame seeds, flax seeds, etc. are rich in bioactive compounds. Bioactive compounds play an important role in human health as antioxidant; they act as antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, antidiabetic, anticancer, etc. In the era of functional foods, the knowledge of the medicinal benefits of the food adjuncts can encourage the entrepreneurs to position the products in the global market with their functional benefits.