twitter

Saturday, 19 December 2015

Chapter 32 – Antioxidant Actions of Spices and Their Phytochemicals on Age-Related Diseases


Abstract

Many plants and plant-derived compounds called phytochemicals have been used as drugs, either in their original or semisynthetic forms, for remedy of diseases. These plant secondary metabolites can also serve as drug precursors or prototypes. There are also several plant extracts in clinical trials for the treatment of various diseases. Spices do not only provide pleasure in everyday diets but have also been associated directly with beneficial effects on health, because of their medicinal effects, such as modulating gastrointestinal and cardiovascular function, slimming, the optimization of skeletal muscle performance, the reduction of chronic inflammation, the prevention of metabolic syndrome, cancer prevention, diabetes prevention, ameliorating the effects of aging and age-related diseases, and so on. Spice phytochemicals have complex polypharmacological actions; the most popular of these is their antioxidant effects. In this chapter, the relation of the action of spices and their phytochemicals to antioxidant effects on age-related diseases will be discussed together with some possible pathways.

Keywords

  • antioxidants;
  • age;
  • disease;
  • spices;
  • phytochemicals;
  • turmeric