Phytopharmaceuticals in Chronic and Degenerative Diseases

Plant-based products constitute an important part of human diet worldwide. Various nutrients and phytochemicals such as polyphenolics, carotenoids, tocopherols, and ascorbic acid, well-known antioxidants, contained in these products show a wide range of biological functions and protective roles against chronic diseases. Phytopharmaceuticals in Chronic and Degenerative Diseases provides up-to-date information regarding naturally occurring nutrients and phytochemicals that are believed to promote health and protect against diseases. The book includes chapters focused on discussing the mechanisms involved in the health-promoting effects of phytochemicals, particularly in diseases such as diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disorders. Written by a team of interdisciplinary experts in food science, chemistry, medicine, pharmaceutics and nutrition, the title is a useful resource to many professional and scientific societies worldwide. Review Helps to define when the consumption of plant-based compounds will be beneficial to the outcome of diseases From the Back Cover <p>Plant-based products constitute an important part of human diet worldwide. Various nutrients and phytochemicals such as polyphenolics, carotenoids, tocopherols, and ascorbic acid, well-known antioxidants, contained in these products show a wide range of biological functions and protective roles against chronic diseases.</p> <p><i>Phytopharmaceuticals in Chronic and Degenerative Diseases</i> provides up-to-date information regarding naturally occurring nutrients and phytochemicals that are believed to promote health and protect against diseases. The book includes chapters focused on discussing the mechanisms involved in the health-promoting effects of phytochemicals, particularly in diseases such as diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disorders.</p> <p>Written by a team of interdisciplinary experts in food science, chemistry, medicine, pharmaceutics and nutrition, the title is a useful resource to many professional and scientific societies worldwide.</p> About the Author Dr. José S. Câmara PhD is a Professor in the Chemistry Department at the University of Madeira (UMa), Funchal, Portugal, and Senior Researcher at the CQM (Madeira Chemistry Research Centre) unit; he is presently President of the Food Chemistry group from Portuguese Chemical Society and member of the Direction Board of the Research Centre CQM. He got his degree in Chemistry from University of Coimbra and his PhD degree in Chemistry (specialization in Analytical Chemistry) from UMass in 2004. He has co-authored more than 136 papers in international journals and is involved in the supervision of PhD and MSc theses. His research interests focus on the development of miniaturization extraction techniques for food bioactive and secondary metabolites, food molecular markers and food authenticity. Moreover, he has developed projects supported in OMIC platforms – metabolomics, proteomics, volatilomics, as useful tools to detect potential cancer biomarkers, namely breast, lung and colon cancers. Dr. Jorge A. M. Pereira PhD graduated in Biochemistry (Universidade do Porto) and got a PhD in Biochemistry with a specialization in Molecular Biology, devoted to the study of yeast response to stress (osmostic, nitrosative & oxidative damage). This strong background in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, together with top of the art Analytical Chemistry tools (as LC, GC, MS & NMR) available at CQM (Madeira University) constitute the core of its post-doctoral research envisaging new methodologies to assess prevalent diseases elicited by oxidative damage, namely cardiovascular (CVD), oncologic (OD) and neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). His work has contributed to the use of microextraction techniques (METs) in different fields of research, particularly in the characterization of biomarkers for the highly prevalent dis