A Brief Overview of Nutraceuticals

Nutraceuticals are naturally occurring compounds that have pharmaceutical properties. This chapter includes historic significance of nutraceutical compounds, the types and sources of nutraceuticals. Nutraceuticals can be derived from various day to day foods such as turmeric, garlic, tea, soy beans, etc. Nutraceuticals and their medicinal potential will also be discussed in the given chapter. Though there are plenty of modern medicines available in the market, yet the inclination of researchers towards nutraceuticals keeps increasing, the reason being their pharmaceutical properties, ease of availability, cost and no to negligible side effects to the human body, unlike modern medicines. We will discuss an overview of nutraceuticals and how they are the upcoming medicines of the modern world diseases.