Nutraceuticals: Paradigm to Cure Cancer

The term “nutraceuticals” refers to nutrients, functional foods, or spices (plants) with medicinal properties. They are food supplements that have been shown to support the maintenance of healthy bodies and to have pleiotropic effects on metabolic pathways to sustain health conditions. Natural, nontoxic food substances known as nutraceuticals can provide physiological advantages in the fight against chronic diseases. In contrast, there has been a documented rise in cancer cases in recent years in the Eastern globe, most likely as a result of lifestyle and dietary changes. The patient advantages from the cancer treatments that are now available are minimal. The body of evidence is mounting that Mother Nature has been a significant source of medicine, as over 70% of all currently used medications have their origins in the natural world. New cancer-preventive and treatment methods now include nutraceuticals which are foods or food products having nutraceutical value. Caffeic acid, capsaicin, curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, flavopiridol, genistein, resveratrol, sanguinarine, and tocotrienol are a few of the popular nutraceuticals with anticancer properties. For improved absorption and effectiveness, nutraceuticals have also undergone structural modifications. To increase the effectiveness, of already available medications, these substances are also combined. The importance of various nutraceuticals in treatment of cancer, as well as their value as chemopreventive, has been discussed in this chapter.