Abstract
Phytonutrients can be defined as phytochemicals that are present in phyto-foods and have some nutritional value, especially in relation to maintenance of human health and prevention of diseases. Their regular and adequate intake may offer protection from major chronic diseases, including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer. Phyto-foods like apples, blueberries, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cherries, soybeans, tomatoes, and walnuts contain phytonutrients of various chemical classes. There are over 25,000 phytonutrients from different phytochemical classes, e.g., anthocyanins, carotenoids, coumarins, flavonoids, diarylalkanoids, lignans, phenolic acids, polyphenols, sterols, and terpenes, which have been found in plant foods. This chapter introduces various types of phytonutrients and their health benefits and leads to various relevant chapters incorporated in this book.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adisakwattana S (2017) Cinnamic acid and its derivatives: mechanisms for prevention and management of diabetes and its complications. Nutrients 9:163, 1–27
Atta-ur-Rahman (2002) Studies in natural products chemistry, Bioactive natural products (Part H), vol 27. Elsevier, London
Bansal M, Singh N, Pal S, Dev I, Ansari KM (2018) Chemopreventive role of dietary phytochemicals in colorectal cancer. Adv Mol Toxicol 12:69–121
Bastamante-Rangel M, Delgado-Zamarreno MM, Perez-Martin L, Rodriguez-Gonzalo E, Dominiguez-Alvarez J (2018) Analysis of isoflavonoids in foods. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf 17:391–411
Chung KT, Wong TY, Wei CI, Hunag YW, Lin Y (1998) Tannins and human health: a review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 38:421–464
Del Olmo A, Calzada J, Nunez M (2017) Benzoic acid and its derivatives as naturally occurring compounds in foods and as additives: uses, exposures and controversy. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 57:3084–3103
Eggersdorfer M, Wyss A (2018) Carotenoids in human nutrition and health. Arch Biochem Biophys 652:18–26
Goto T, Takahashi N, Hirai S, Kawada T (2010) Various terpenoids derived from herbal and dietary plants function as PPAR modulators and regulate carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. PPAR Res 2010:483958
Hewlings SJ, Kalman DS (2017) Curcumin: a review of its effects on human health. Foods 6. PMC5664031
Johnson EJ (2002) The role of carotenoids in human health. Nutr Clin Care 5:56–65
Khan MSA, Khundmiri SUK, Khundmiri SR, Al-Sanea MM, Mok PL (2018) Fruit-derived polysaccharides and terpenoids: recent update on the gastroprotective effects and mechanisms. Front Pharmacol 9:569
Khoo HE, Azlan A, Tang ST, Lim SM (2017) Anthocyanidins and anthocyanins: colored pigments as food, pharmaceutical ingredients, and the potential health benefits. Food Nutr Res 61:1361779
Krinsky NI, Johnson EJ (2005) Carotenoid actions and their relation to health and disease. Mol Asp Med 26:459–516
Krzyzanowska J, Czubacka A, Oleszek W (2010) Dietary phytochemicals and human health. Adv Exp Med Biol 698:74–98
Kumari M, Jain S (2012) Tannins: an antinutrient with positive effect to manage diabetes. Res J Recent Sci 1:70–73
Li D, Wang P, Zhao M, Chen F (2017) Health benefits of anthocyanins and molecular mechanisms: update from recent decade. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 57:1729–1741
Natella F, Nardini M, Di Felice M, Scaccini C (1999) Benzoic and cinnamic acid derivatives as antioxidants: structure-activity relation. J Agric Food Chem 47:1453–1459
Ogbe RJ, Ochalefu DO, Mafulul SG, Olaniru OB (2015) A review on dietary phytosterols: their occurrence, metabolism and health benefits. Asian J Plant Sci Res 5:10–21
Peterson J, Dwyer J, Adlercreutz H, Scalbert A, Jacques P, McCullough ML (2010) Dietary lignans: physiology and potential for cardiovascular disease risk reduction. Nutr Rev 68:571–603
Probst YC, Guan VX, Kent K (2017) Dietary phytochemical intake from foods and health outcomes: a systematic review protocol and preliminary scoping. BMJ Open 7:e013337
Putta S, Yarla NS, Peluso I, Tiwari DK, Reddy GV, Giri PV, Kumar N, Malla R, Chari PVB, Reddy RSD, Bade R, Manarapu M, Barretto G, Lu D-Y, Tarasov VV, Chubarev VN, Ribeiro FF, Scotti L, Scotti MT, Kamal MA, Gjulam A, Aliev G, Perry G, Sarker SD, Rao CV, Bishayee A (2017) Anthocyanins: multi-target agents for prevention and therapy of chronic diseases. Curr Pharm Des 23:1–26
Rabi T, Gupta S (2008) Dietary terpenoids and prostate cancer chemoprevention. Front Biosci 13:3457–3469
Recette SB, Lin X, Lefevre M, Spearie CA, Most MM, Ma L, Ostlund RR Jr (2010) Dose effects of dietary phytosterols on cholesterol metabolism: a controlled feeding study. Am J Clin Nutr 91:32–38
Robbins RJ (2003) Phenolic acids: an overview of analytical methodology. J Agric Food Chem 51:2866–2887
Rodriguez-Garcia C, Sanchez-Quesada C, Toledo E, Delgado-Rodriguez M, Gaforio JJ (2019) Naturally lignan-rich foods: a dietary tool for health promotion? Molecules 24:917
Saini RK, Nile SH, Park SW (2015) Carotenoids from fruits and vegetables: chemistry, analysis, occurrence, bioavailability and biological activities. Food Res Int 76:735–750
Salehi B, Mishra AP, Nigam M, Sener B, Kilic M, Sharifi-Rad M, Fokou PVT, Martins N, Sharifi-Rad J (2018) Resveratrol: a double-edged sword in health benefits. Biomedicine 6:91
Sarker S, Nahar L (2007a) Chemistry for pharmacy students: general, organic and natural product chemistry. Wiley, Hoboken. eBook ISBN 9781118687536
Sarker SD, Nahar L (2007b) Bioactivity of turmeric. In: Ravindran PN, Babu KN, Sivaraman K (eds) Turmeric: the genus curcuma. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Sarker SD, Nahar L (2017) Progress in the chemistry of naturally occurring coumarins. In: Kinghorn AD, Falk H, Kobayashi J, Gibbons S (eds) Progress in the chemistry of organic natural products, vol 106. Springer, Cham, pp 241–304
Serrano J, Puupponen-Pimia R, Dauer A, Aura A-M, Saura-Calixto F (2009) Tannins: current knowledge of food sources, intake, bioavailability and biological effects. Mol Nutr Food Res 53:S310–S329
Smeriglio A, Barreca D, Bellocco E, Trombetta D (2017) Proanthocyanidins and hydrolysable tannins: occurrence, dietary intake and pharmacological effects. Br J Pharmacol 174:1244–1262
Sova M (2012) Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of cinnamic acid derivatives. Mini-Rev Med Chem 12:749–767
Teponno RB, Kusari S, Spiteller M (2016) Recent advances in research on lignans and neolignans. Nat Prod Rep 33:1044–1092
Trawtwein EA, Demonty I (2007) Phytosterols: natural compounds with established and emerging health benefits. Ol Crops Gras Lipides 14:259–266
Yao LH, Jiang YM, Shi J, Tomas-Barberan FA, Datta N, Singanusong R, Chen SS (2004) Flavonoids in foods and their health benefits. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 59:113–122
Yousuf B, Gul K, Wani AA, Singh P (2016) Health benefits of anthocyanins and their encapsulation for potential use in food systems: a review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 56:2223–2230
Acknowledgments
L Nahar gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the European Regional Development Fund - Project ENOCH (No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000868).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Nahar, L., Xiao, J., Sarker, S.D. (2021). Introduction of Phytonutrients. In: Xiao, J., Sarker, S.D., Asakawa, Y. (eds) Handbook of Dietary Phytochemicals. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4148-3_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4148-3_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-4147-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-4148-3
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences