Nutraceuticals synthetic

Considering the concerns of consumers for synthetic colorants and interest in natural formulas, many food manufacturers seek alternative healthy solutions to replace colorants, even the regulated ones from positive lists (like p-carotene), with colored fruit and vegetable extracts to be used as functional food ingredients or nutraceuticals (food supplements). ... 

Delgado-Vargas, F. and Paredes-Lopez, O., Inorganic and synthetic pigments, in Natural Colorants for Food and Nutraceutical Uses, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2003, chap. 5. 

This chapter is devoted to a description of the chemistry, applications, and safety of the wide variety of natural and synthetic colorants available today. But another aspect has entered into consideration. Food safety of colorants has usually been considered to be a negative if we ignore the many benefits of making food more attractive in appearance. The recent meteoric rise of the nutraceutical industries has made it possible to claim health benefits for many categories of food including the colorants. Where appropriate, the health claims will be included in this chapter. 

Contaminants, particularly heavy metals, are a problem in certain herbal preparations, but in nutraceuticals, breakdown products, synthetic intermediates, and co-occurring related constituents extracted from natural sources are also possible contaminants. Specific contaminants may be evident in particular products, such as alkanol esters in policosanol, and DMSO in MSM, due to manufacturing or extraction problems. 

Anthocyanins are a proanthocyanidin-type of flavonoid distributed in various fruits. These anthocyanins are the most important visible plant pigments in the natural kingdom. Anthocyanins have been clinically used in many folklore medicines worldwide for the treatment of age-related diseases and other disease. This review presents the functionality of anthocyanins in relation to their chemistry, synthetic pathway, antioxidant activity, antitumor activity (including apoptosis-inducing activity), pharmacodynamics (absorption, metabolism, distribution, and excretion) and toxicity, and discusses their possible use as food and dietary supplements and usage in potential nutraceuticals. 

Tocopherols and tocotrienols used for supplementation of foods and feeds or production of nutraceuticals, e.g., pills and powders, are obtained either by extraction from natural sources or by chemical synthesis (Schuler, 1990 O Leary, 1993). Extraction of tocopherols and tocotrienols from natural sources is economically feasible only if tocopherol/tocotrienol-rich raw materials are available at large quantities and are of high quality. In production of both natural and synthetic compounds, there are several extraction and purification processes that have to be optimized and controlled. Moreover, the environmental impacts of these processes should be acknowledged. Technological innovations in these areas are constantly needed. 

Others Enzyme immobilization Encapsulation of nutraceuticals Chromatography Analytical reagent Synthetic fiber Chitosan-coated paper Manufacturing material for fiber Film and sponges... 

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) is a separation technique that uses sc-fluids as separating solvents. Supercritical fluids can replace other solvents in many purification procedures, even in countercurrent extraction. In synthetic chemistry, SFE can be an alternative to conventional methods for purification/isolation of complex products, for example pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and vitamins [12, 18j. Since SFE is still quite a young discipline, physical properties and basic parameters for many interesting compounds and mixtures are not yet known (in contrast to classical methods like distillations). Therefore, it must be pointed out that for all applications of sc-fluids the phase equilibria have to be determined properly. Unfortunately, for many technical or industrial applications of procedures based on supercritical fluids, the basic parameters are often not yet known. For industrial implementation, scale-up, miniplant, or pilot plant activities, it is absolutely necessary to have information about phase behaviour, solubility, energy balances and... 

The overexpression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 in cancer has been associated with resistance to chemotherapeutic agents. The phosphorylation of Bcl-2 is one mechanism by which antimicrotubule agents in clinic such as paclitaxel, taxotere and vinblastine inactivate the Bcl-2 proteins. Many natural products and semi-synthetic molecules are used in clinic for anticancer activity. In this chapter, the importance of the Bcl-2 phosphoiylating molecule from nutraceuticals that shed light on the future development of molecules for chemoprevention and anticancer drugs will be discussed. The roots of Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) have been used in traditional medicine for a variety of... 

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