a term"phytochemicals" is used for various food products. I am not sure what these compounds are and why and how they are useful? And if they are useful, which diets have them?
Phytochemicals are biologically active, naturally occurring chemical compounds found in fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, tea and seeds. The therapeutic effects of these medicinal plants can be attributed to, among others, the phytochemicals in them especially the flavonoids, alkaloids, sterols, terpenoids, phenolic acids, stilbenes, lignans, tannins and saponins. The abundance of scientific evidence indicates that such bioactive compounds have biological properties such as antioxidant activity, antimicrobial effect, modulation of detoxification enzymes, stimulation of the immune system, decrease of platelet aggregation and modulation of hormonemetabolism and anticancer property.
See:
http://www.rroij.com/open-access/medicinally-important-phytochemicals-an-untapped-research-avenue-.php?aid=67696
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/phytochemical
When you eat one fruit, you directly get some useful phytochemicals.
Chemicals present in any plant/ plant part are phytochemicals.
Leave and never trust any advertisement regarding usefulness of any 'phytochemical' added with some synthetic chemicals in any 'product' for business.
Phytochemicals and the benefits of these substances on the body. Phytochemicals are abundant in apples, berries, cherries and also in carrots, grapes and lots of vegetables and fruits.
These Nabataean chemicals are primarily responsible for the color of fruits and vegetables. The carrots give orange color and blue grapes, and not only the color of fruits. They are also responsible for the warm taste of some vegetables, such as the hot taste of radish. These are some functions of phytochemicals, there are nearly a hundred thousand of these known chemical compounds.
The effect on the human body is also numerous and important, it protects the body in many ways as has been proved in many scientific studies. The most common of these compounds are flavonoids, for example in apples, berries, cherries and even eggplant. These compounds are present in the fruit but sometimes increase in large quantities in the crust. They protect the fruit from external influences for a long time, such as apples, pears and grapes. Many experts take such fruits with the crust because of its rich nutrients and its important benefits to the body.
Flavonoids protect the body from harmful free radicals (damage to the cells of the body), also enhance the immune system and help protect the body from infection. Some scientists also suggest that plant materials reduce the risk of lung, breast and colon cancers.
Phytochemicals are non-nutritive constituents produced by plants in secondary metabolism that display diverse range of disease-preventive or protective effects like antimicrobial, antimalarial, hepatoprotective, antioxidant, antiinflammatory and antidiabetic to list as few of their medicinal uses. Phytochemicals are classified into various classes such as polyphenols etc, each having distinct mode of action to cope various ailments.
There are many foods that contain these useful compounds called Phytochemical. They are produced by plants, as their name suggests. A variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, and other plants contain them. Stidies suggest that photochemical are preventative of cancers by proreciting thode cells from damage that may cause lcancer.
It means they have ALL THE GOOD THINGS; Are there any side effects ?
Isolated phytochemicals show toxicity in many cases, even the parts of the source medicinal plant may be non toxic and useful.
Dose is the subject which make differences between toxicity and medicinal effect in most of the time.
It is true for phytochemicals also.
Thanks.
Phytochemicals are bio-active compounds produced by plants. These r valuable secondary metabolites that are known to exhibit several biological activities, viz. taxol used for anti-cancer, artemisinin for anti-malaria, forskolin for several allergies nd so on.
All the natural food items- fruit, grains, nuts, vegetables etc. have some specific bio- active compounds. So eat variety of food to get the significant phytochemicals.
They are found in fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, and other plants. ... Some scientists think that you could reduce your cancer risk by as much as 40% by eating more vegetables, fruits, and other plant foods that have certain phyto chemicals in them
Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts all contain phytochemicals.
- Tomatoes. One of the more common phytochemicals is lycopene, belonging to the family of carotenoids. ...
- Cruciferous Vegetables. ...
- Fruits, Tea, Wine and Soybeans. ...
- Red, Blue and Purple Fruits and Vegetables.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF PHYTOCHEMICALS. Phytochemicals—the bioactive nonnutrient plant compounds in fruit, vegetables, grains, and other plant foods—have been linked to reductions in the risk of major chronic diseases
The Importance of Phytochemicals in Your Diet. Phytochemicals, are naturally found in plants and are responsible for providing color, flavor, and aroma to fruits and vegetables. They are biologically active and function to protect plants against invasion, disease, and infection
Phytochemicals, also referred to as phytonutrients, are found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, beans, herbs, spices, nuts, and seeds and are classified according to their chemical structures and functional properties. ... Flavonoids are the largest, most varied, and most studied group of phytochemicals.
Phytochemicals are natural. Nature biosynthesizes components biologically active. Academician A. Sadikov said: natural components are less toxic than synthetic
The Importance of Phytochemicals in Your Diet. Phytochemicals, are naturally found in plants and are responsible for providing color, flavor, and aroma to fruits and vegetables. They are biologically active and function to protect plants against invasion, disease, and infection
phytochemical are compound like phenols , alkaloids and terpenoids ets. Many plant and fruits have these compounds . yes , used especially synthesis of some drugs ( phytotherapy )
Phytochemicals are listed as secondary metabolites that are naturally found in plants with roles involved in the restoration of damaged cells, but also in determination of colour, aroma and taste of the plants. These types of products are classified based on the starting point of their biosynthesis: phenolic compounds, carotenoids, products with nitrogen, alkaloids and organosulfur compounds. Every class of phytochemicals is further divided in many other smaller subclasses forming a complex diagram of classification, with a wide range of isomeric form and different substituents, that show the different biological active effect .
Dear Sikandar Hayat Khan,
the lipid(fat)- or water-soluble substances, especially those which show antimicrobial and/or
antioxidant properties, won from plants are called phytochemicals. The currently boom of their extraction from different species and application in preventive medicine and industry (extension of the storage duration of oxidative sensitive products) has the following opinion of B. Halliwell to owe: “Antioxidant defense systems scavenge and minimize the formation of oxygen-derived species,
but they are not 100% effective. Hence, diet-derived antioxidants may be particularly important in diminishing cumulative oxidative damage and helping us to stay healthier for longer” (B. Halliwell, Nutr. Rev. 1994, 52, 8 Pt 1, p. 253). Tens if not hundreds of companies in the world, producing from various raw materials the antioxidative working biological supplements to food products, propagandize them, promising achievement of a maximal level of health and longevity.
It is not heeded logically that one must distinguish the antioxidants in two categories: obligatory and facultative. The first are object of the homeostatic regulation in the framework of the antioxidative system of the organism (s. file Biophysics Popov.pdf). The vitamins C and E, as well as the uric acid, belong to it. The facultative antioxidants, i.e. not regulated within the antioxidative system, in particular the majority of dietary supplements to food, after penetration into blood stream remain in it limited time according to laws of pharmacokinetics. The removal of water-soluble facultative antioxidants from an organism without delay causes the efficiency of the antioxidative protection mediated by them proportional to the frequency of their intake. So, a significant (by 3 times) decrease in risk of a breast cancer was found at the intake of not less than 5 cups of coffee a day (Nkondjock A., Ghadirian P., Kotsopoulos J. et al. Coffee consumption and breast cancer risk among BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. Int. J. Cancer. 2006, 118, p.p.103–107). Similar negative relationship was found concerning the incidence of diabetes of the second type. The intake of up to 10 cups of coffee per day was accompanied by the 5-fold diminution of the risk. 14600 people were observed with it during 12 years (Tuomilehto J., Hu G., Bidel S. et al. Coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among middle-aged Finnish men and women. JAMA, 2004, 291, p.p.1213–1219).
The course of changes of antioxidant capacity of blood plasma after consumption of chocolate is shown on the attached picture “chocolate.jpg”.
The formula of the healthy nutrition is well known: five times per day fruits and vegetables. But concerning the extracts from plants, that don't belong to the usual nutrition, caution is offered! The usefulness for the concrete goal should be proven, what currently the case is not always. It is especially important for the fat-soluble materials. An example from our own study (vitamin E.jpg) shows the effects of Probucol and of two other substances S-1 and S-2 on the antioxidant capacity ACL of lipid-soluble components of blood plasma of rabbits after 4 weeks of application in the same quantity. Yellow colored parts are vitamin E concentrations as a sum of alpha- and gamma-tocopherols. Obviously, the application of the new substances is not commendable to prevent atherosclerosis, because they displace the biologically very important vitamin.
Regards,
I. Popov
A very comprehensive reply. Some of the evidence you shared need a detailed look though and i will go through it in details.
Thank you @I.N.Popov
Phytochemicals are non-nutritive plant chemicals that have protective or disease preventive properties. They are non-essential nutrients, meaning that they are not required by the human body for sustaining life. It is well-known that plant produce these chemicals to protect themselves but recent research demonstrate that they can also protect humans against diseases. There are more than thousand known phytochemicals. Some of the well-known phytochemicals are lycopene in tomatoes, isoflavones in soy and flavanoids in fruits.
Phytochemical: bioactives compounds , isolated from plant widly studied and investigated for their biological effect !
I am very motivated to phytochemical research!
Thank you Nihada Ahmetovic Gulzar Shah and everybody who contributed.
I guess if we know more about these little chemicals and their deficiencies, hopefully disease management especially metabolic disorders can be dealt more easily
Rgagards
Hello, phytochemicals are chemical compounds produced by plants. They are commonly found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and grains.
Just commercial ploy, nothing new.
Off course, literally it means chemicals from plants. Here the first problem, Americans consider plants any kind of photosynthetic organism, even algae, Europeans not. The meaning of chemical is misleading, what is not chemical? Meaning made of atoms? Probably the soul or something like this? Furthermore, chemical is often used to distinguish synthetic from natural origin. In any case, the therm Natural Products is more used, if I understood the question
I agree@ Mubarak Ali Khan for your answer " Phytochemicals are the sum of all compounds making plant structure, architecture and biomass. These can be divided into two different classes the first is primary metabolites and the second metabolites."
I must criticize most of the answers reported. I see too identification in the plant possibility to be used as useful. In principle, there is little difference between the metabolism of complex organisms, therefore be carefull in assigning special activity toplant natural products. Second, the difference between prymary and secondary metabolism is a didatic invention by phytochemistry book, just to make simple a complicate matter. What are for instance steroids (i.e. phytosteroids)? I can continue with many other arguments. Please, do not consider as the reality what is written in books. Think with your mind and remember that in science everytime was it is considered true once, it can be totally reconsider later. In may opinion, in case of plant natural products there several axioms that must be totally reconsidered on the light of last researches. If someone is interested I can report some papers of references about this matter. I repeat please think by yourself, most of the considerations reported are obsolete or based on wrong paradigm.
Ok, let's see if we can share some general approaches before entering in details, otherwise we could waste our time. In fact, if you are interested I can report why current opinions on metabolism must be revised, but it will take some time and attention and care to any word, and we must start from the general rules governing reality.
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