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Transcript

Hello everyone. We have seen that there are many sources of bio-active compounds, like animal based sources, plant based sources. And even the microbial sources are also there. So let us start our next lecture, that is based on benefits of functional compounds in food and health promotion. Functional ingredients of animal based products, that is first very important class is fatty acids. And fatty acids include CLA, that is conjugated linoleic acid, and the sources are milk, cheese and meat products. And they are very beneficial and improve the body composition, decrease the risk of certain kind of cancers. Salmon, tuna, mackerel and fish oils; they are very rich sources of long chain omega-3 fatty acids, that is DHA and EPA. And they are claimed to reduce the cardio-vascular diseases and improve the mental and visual functions.

Second important class is plant based foods that is polyphenols. Polyphenols include

• anthocyanidine
• catechins
• flavonones
• flavones, and
• tannins

Fruits are the sources of anthocyanidine and catechins are found in tea, babul pods, mustard seed and rapeseed, and flavonones, they are also found in citrus fruits, vegetables and soya beans. And all these polyphenols, they neutralize the free radicals. You know free radicals are harmful to us and reduce the risk of the cancer. Then tannins. The source of tannins are cocoa, chocolate and cranberries. And they reduce the cardio-vascular diseases and improve the urinary tract health. Another source of these bioactive compounds are the saponins, and they are derived from the soya beans and chickpea. And the health benefits, they cause and lowers the cholesterol and anti-cancer.

Then probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics. These are of the microbial origin. Probiotics, lacto-bacillus that is present in the fermented products; yogurt and curd. And prebiotics, that is FOS(fructo-oligosaccharides) or we can say inulin also. And the sources are whole grains, onions, combination of probiotics and prebiotics; that is synbiotics. And they improve the gastro-intestinal health and improve quality of intestine microflora. Then next class is phytoestrogens. It includes isoflavones; that is diadzein and zenistein and the sources are soya bean and soya waste products. And they claim to reduce the menopausal symptoms like hotflashes and also increase the bone health. Lignans are also very important and the sources are flax, rye and vegetables. And they reduce cancer, heart diseases, and lowering the low density lipoproteins and total cholesterol.

Next is carotenoids that are very important. And carotenoids it is alpha and beta carotenoids. They are found in papaya, carrots, vegetables, fruits and especially mango. And they neutralize the free radicals. Then luteins, that is found in green vegetables and maintain the health and healthy vision. Then eggs, citrus fruits and corn. They are the good source of zeoxanthine. And tomatoes are the good source of lycopene. And they reduce the risk of prostrate cancer. Then come to the dietary fibers. It’s important to know that we have heard that dietary fibers are a very important, very important and should be included in our diet. Do you know how they work? How they are beneficial to us? Let’s see. Dietary fibers which could be insoluble or soluble are starchy polysaccharides and structural components of cell walls of cereals and micro-organisms. They are the indigestible part of the plant foods and compounds of long, straight and branched chains of carbohydrate molecules held together by the bones that cannot be hydrolysed by the human digestive enzymes, means the human digestive system enzymes, they can’t act on the dietary fibers.

The long fibrous structure of dietary fibers allow them to trap the harmful toxins and carcinogens. Carcinogens means which are responsible for cause of the cancer. So these long fibrous structures they entrap the harmful toxins as well as the carcinogens in the digestive tract. That’s why the inclusion of dietary fibers in our diet is very important and this is how they work for the beneficial purpose. Dietary fibers are two types, like insoluble dietary fibers, that is found in wheat bran, food grain and husk mainly. And soluble dietary fibers, that is beta-glucan found in oats and barley. And oats, like these days are very popular because of the beta-glucan and this is a soluble dietary fiber; that is very beneficial, I have told you earlier. And they will helpful, the dietary fibers, they are helpful to reduce the cardio-vascular diseases. And the dietary fibers are also found in the whole grain, that is the cereal grain.

Now once again I would like to discuss with you like the mechanism of action of the bio-active compounds. The food have the different kind of bio-active compounds. It may be present in the foods. It may be present in the vegetables. Then how the bio-active compounds work. The important thing is to know the mechanism, the science behind it. So let’s see how they work. These bio-active compounds, they work as the substrate for the bio-chemical reaction. They provide the substrate for the bio-chemical reaction. Secondly, they are the cofactors for the enzymatic reactions. And another way of working is that, they inhibit the enzymatic reactions somewhere, and they act as a absorbents or that bind or eliminate the undesirable constituents in the intestines. That is not desirable, that is harmful. They bind that constituent.

Another way of working is that they act as a scavengers of the reactive or toxic chemicals. And they also play an important role in the growth factors or substrate for the probiotics, because I have told you that some substrate will be there. It will enhance the growth of the probiotics. So this is all about the mechanism of the bio-active compounds. How the dietary fibers are useful in our diet? Why we should include these dietary fiber in the diet? And why the beta-glucan is important. And various other sources.

Thank You.