Nutraceuticals: health effects and clinical applications

Nutraceuticals are products manufactured from both food and non-food sources that provide health benefits in support of structure or function of the body, prevention or mitigation of diseases, delay of the aging process, and promotion of wellbeing. The most widely used functional ingredients in nutraceuticals include cranberry, garcinia, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, green tea, omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics, red yeast rice, St. John's Wort, and turmeric. A wide range of health indications which lead to use of netraceuticals include hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, obesity, hypertension, cognition, immunity, vision, osteoporosis, sleep, and sarcopenia. Most importantly, health benefits of nutraceuticals must be substantiated repeatedly by clinical evidence from human studies, particularly with positive effects reported by meta-analysis.