Nutraceuticals and Natural Product Pharmaceuticals

Charis M. Galanakis

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780128164501
• eBook ISBN: 9780128175163
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Nutraceuticals and Natural Product Pharmaceuticals analyzes the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical research published over the last decade, paying particular attention to applications and recovery effects. The book emphasizes the great need for both nutritionists and pharmacologists to understand how these drugs can benefit human health. Topics explore innovative sources, bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, translating novel pathways and mechanisms of action into their clinical use, personalized nutrition and natural product medicine, the convergence between nutraceuticals and western medicine, interactions between drugs, nutrients, the microbiome and lifestyles, industrial applications and commercialization, metabolomics, nano-delivery systems and function, and more.Nutritionists and pharmacists working with natural products, food scientists, nutrition researchers and those interested in the development of innovative products, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals and functional foods are sure to benefit from this thorough resource.- Connects research from the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries- Promotes further communication and cooperation between pharmacologists and nutritionists by analyzing nutraceutical and pharmaceutical research in particular applications and recovery efforts- Explores the health effects of target compounds and the development of applications in both sectors

Chapter 1

Introduction to Nutraceuticals and Pharmaceuticals

Kata Trifković^1,2 and Maja Benković³, ¹Teagasc Food Research Center, Food Bioscience Department, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co., Cork, Ireland, ²Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, ³Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, Department of Process Engineering, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, although seemingly different categories of products, still exhibit high similarities and overlapping among their properties and functionalities. The confusion and the lack of a distinguished border between nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals are mostly the result of the nonexistent comprehensive definition on what is considered a nutraceutical. Although the situation is much clearer with pharmaceuticals, the nutraceuticals still remain to be fully defined and legally recognized. This chapter offers an overview on the history and the definition of nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, regulatory background, development processes, differences and similarities, and future challenges involved in understanding and defining the borderline between nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, which is still, up to this day, indistinct.

Keywords

Nutraceuticals; pharmaceuticals; definition; regulations

Chapter Outline

• 1.1 A Brief History of Nutraceuticals and Pharmaceuticals 2
• 1.2 Nutraceuticals 3
  • 1.2.1 The Definition 3
  • 1.2.2 What Is Functional Food? 4
  • 1.2.3 Why Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods? 6
  • 1.2.4 What Can Be Referred to as Nutraceuticals? 7
  • 1.2.5 Nutraceuticals in Disease Prevention 7
• 1.3 Pharmaceuticals 13
  • 1.3.1 The Definition 13
  • 1.3.2 Development 15
  • 1.3.3 Chemical Composition and Classification 19
  • 1.3.4 Naturally-Based Pharmaceuticals 20
• 1.4 Legislation 21
  • 1.4.1 Legislation on Pharmaceuticals 21
  • 1.4.2 Legislation on Nutraceuticals 21
• 1.5 The Differences and the Overlapping 23
• 1.6 The Future Perspectives 24
  • 1.6.1 What Needs to Be Done? 24
  • 1.6.2 Novel Trends in Nutraceuticals Production 24
• References 25

In the vast variety of different medicines capable of curing or preventing diseases, the consumers are looking for something more, or better said, less. They are returning more and more to “as it once was,” with a paradigm “natural is better.” Indeed, data shows that the market for natural products and functional foods has an estimated value of 168 billion dollars and enabled the growth of the food industry by 8.6% in the last 10 years to 2012 (Vicentini et al., 2016). The benefits of natural sources of bioactive ingredients are many: they can be found literally everywhere, they are inexpensive, and have beneficial health effects, or at least it is claimed (and not always proven) so. Natural sources include food, dietary supplements, medicinal plants, food-waste bioactives, etc. The idea behind the use of natural products is usually prevention of onset of different diseases. Ghosh and Smarta (2017) state that there has been a visible paradigm shift from cure to prevention, where the consumers turn more and more to healthy lifestyles, dietary supplements, or nutraceuticals in order to avoid or stall the onset of various diseases.

The existence of those bioactive naturally occurring compounds opens a whole new market for the pharmaceutical industries which are investing more funds in dietary supplement development, but also new opportunities for the food industry to develop, market, and sell functional food products. However, the existence of a so-called “gray area” between pharmaceuticals and food is more and more pronounced (Santini and Novellino, 2018), usually for bioactives containing products that claim to have health benefits, but those benefits have not yet been scientifically proven or do not have sufficient data on their stability, efficacy, or toxicity.

This chapter offers an overview on the history and the definition of nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, regulatory background, development processes, differences and similarities, and future challenges involved in understanding and defining the borderline between nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, which is still, up to this day, indistinct.

1.1 A Brief History of Nutraceuticals and Pharmaceuticals

When describing a brief history of pharmaceuticals, we actually have to start with nutraceuticals. Namely, the history of medicines dates to around 2000 BCE, and there is historical evidence that humans were prescribing medications as far as the Sumerian times. These “medications” were actually preparations made from medicinal plants. The use of medicinal plants for curing diseases also continues in the Greek times, around 400 BCE, from when Diocles of Carystus is known for treating diseases with herbal medicines. Medicinal plants were considered medicines up to the CE 1800s. After that, it is believed that the age of modern pharmacy begins. Namely, rational drug discovery begins with morphine isolation by the German apothecary assistant Friedrich Sertürner in the mid-1800s. Following that, with the development of organic chemical synthesis, development of synthetic drugs was also possible, leading to a discovery of epinephrine, norepinephrine, amphetamines, barbiturates, etc. A revolution in antiinfective drugs development happened after the discovery of penicillin in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, which opened the door to new antibiotics development. The change in lifestyle led to development of new anticholestemic and antihypertensive drugs, as well as antidepressanst and oral contraceptives. Today’s pharmaceutical industry has a production value of 996.9 billion US dollars and a growth rate of 2.8% (data available for 2014) (International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, 2017).

As for nutraceuticals history, the term “nutraceuticals” was first developed in 1989 by Stephen DeFelice. Prior to that, there was research on the functional properties of food and the ability of certain foods to alleviate certain conditions connected to diseases or even prevent diseases, but the term “nutraceuticals” was not in use. From the early 1990s up to today, the rising demands of consumers for functional foods and nutritional supplements have grown rapidly, and it is estimated that the nutraceuticals market will be worth 578 billion US dollars by 2025 (Grand View Research, 2017).

1.2 Nutraceuticals

1.2.1 The Definition

As previously mentioned, the neologism “nutraceuticals” has been derived from words “nutrition” and “pharmaceuticals,” by the M.D. Stephen DeFelice, back in 1989 (DeFelice, 1989). DeFelice established the Foundation for Innovation in Medicine, in Cranford, NJ (Brower, 1998), and had proposed the Guidelines For The Nutraceutical Research & Education Act—NREA; he had also advised to initiate the Nutraceutical Commission, a regulatory body to approve nutraceuticals, and accompanying research grant program specifically designed for nutraceuticals clinical research (DeFelice, 2002).

According to DeFelice, nutraceuticals comprise of foodstuffs, dietary supplements, and medical foods, with a distinctive health impact in either prevention and/or treatment of diseases (DeFelice, 1989). As highlighted, there is no need for strict discrimination of health and medical claims in relation to nutraceuticals; both are related to maintaining health and disease prevention, or, finally, treatment. In line with the philosophy of the father of medicine, Hippocrates, “let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,” nutraceuticals are seen as a way to maintain health and prevent diseases (Fig. 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Illustration of different approaches to maintaining health.

Nutraceuticals have also been referred to as “medicinally or nutritionally functional foods”; besides, they can appear under the label of medical foods, phytochemicals, designer or functional foods, herbal products, nutritional supplements, pharmaconutrients, dietary integrators, etc. (Aronson, 2017; Bull et al., 2010; Hardy, 2000). This abundance of terminology often leads to confusion, especially since there are no internationally assented definitions and designations of nutraceuticals. In general, all of these terms are used, usually arbitrary, to designate nutrients or nutrient-enriched foods that can be employed in prevention or treatment of diseases (Hardy, 2000).

On the contrary, to some food-related terminology that is legally recognized and defined (Table 1.1), nu...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Chapter 1. Introduction to Nutraceuticals and Pharmaceuticals
• Chapter 2. Nutrigenomics and Antioxidants
• Chapter 3. Plant Secondary Metabolites With Hepatoprotective Efficacy
• Chapter 4. Effects of Nutritional Supplements on Human Health
• Chapter 5. Optimizing Performance Under High-Altitude Stressful Conditions Using Herbal Extracts and Nutraceuticals
• Chapter 6. Nutraceuticals and Metabolic Syndrome
• Chapter 7. Food Matrices That Improve the Oral Bioavailability of Pharmaceuticals and Nutraceuticals
• Chapter 8. Innovative Sources
• Chapter 9. Ethno-Pharmaceutical Formulations
• Chapter 10. Reorientation of Nutraceuticals and Pharmaceuticals Applications in an Open Innovation Model
• Index