Food, Medicinal Plants, and other Edible Materials as Sources of Bioactive Compounds that Enhance Metabolic Fitness and Improve Health

Abstract

Molecular nutrition is becoming an increasingly important scientific discipline of human nutrition. The systematic dissection of food and edible materials into their molecular components, followed by studying individual molecules in animal model systems and humans to investigate their nutritional and health benefits, is evolving rapidly. The identification, production, and marketing of these food-derived bioactives will not only have a significant impact on the development of new regimens for disease treatments, but will lead the way into a new era of preventing or postponing the onset of severe chronic diseases by maintaining optimal metabolic fitness and health. Sound scientific principles, rigorous clinical trials, and science-based regulatory processes will facilitate and help to define a new space in diet and dietary compound-based management of health and disease conditions.