Though their usage greatly diminished at the dawn of the scientific area, Indian spices were traditional parts of healthcare for thousands of years. However, over the last decade, largely due to the growth in popularity of complementary and alternative medicine, spices have regained attention due to their physiological and functional benefits. By applying modern research methods to traditional remedies, it is possible to discover what made these spices such effective ailment treatments. Ethnopharmacological Investigation of Indian Spices is a collection of innovative research that analyzes the chemical properties and medical benefits of Indian spices in order to design new therapeutic drugs and for possible utility in the food industry. The book specifically examines the phytochemistry and biosynthetic pathway of active constituents of Indian spices. Highlighting a wide range of topics including pharmacology, antioxidant activity, and anti-cancer research, this book is ideally designed for pharmacologists, pharmacists, physicians, nutritionists, botanists, biotechnicians, biochemists, researchers, academicians, and students at the graduate and post-graduate levels interested in alternative healthcare.

Herbs and Spices - New Processing Technologies is a collection of research and review chapters offering a comprehensive overview of recent developments in the field of herbs and spices, with a focus on plants containing bioactive components and the utilization of novel processing technologies in the development of functional products. The book consists of four sections containing fourteen chapters written by various researchers and edited by an expert active in the research of plants and bioactive compounds.

Traditional uses of spices : an overview / Ajaikumar B. Kunnumakkara ... [et al.] -- Black pepper (Piper nigrum) and its bioactive compound, piperine / Krishnapura Srinivasan -- Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) and its active constituent, 1,8-cineole / Archana Sengupta and Shamee Bhattacharjee -- Molecular targets and health benefits of cinnamon / Kiran Panickar ... [et al.] -- Cloves (eugenol) / Yoshinori Kadoma ... [et al.] -- Coriander / Sanjeev Shukla and Sanjay Gupta -- Fenugreek (diosgenin) / Jayadev Raju and Chinthalapally V. Rao -- Diallyl sulfide from garlic / Girija Kuttan and Punathil Thejass -- Ginger (6-gingerol) / Nidhi Nigam, Jasmine George, and Yogeshwer Shukla -- Kalonji (thymoquinone) / Ahmed O. Kaseb and Abdel-Hafez A. Selim -- Kokum (garcinol) / Manoj K. Pandey, Ajaikumar B. Kunnumakkara, and Bharat B. Aggarwal -- Capsaicin : a hot spice in the chemoprevention of cancer / Joydeb Kumar Kundu and Young-Joon Surh -- Rosemary (rosmarinic acid) / Jongsung Lee ... [et al.] -- Mint and its constituents / Ajaikumar B. Kunnumakkara ... [et al.] -- Turmeric (curcumin) / Jen-Kun Lin and Shoei-Yn Lin Shiau.

"Let food be your medicine, medicine your food."-Hippocrates, 2400 B.C.When the "Father of Medicine" uttered those famous words, spices were as important for medicine, embalming, preserving food, and masking bad odors as they were for more mundane culinary matters. Author James A. Duke predicts that spices such as capsicum, cinnamon, garlic, ginger

This edited volume, “Herbs and Spices”, is a collection of reviewed and relevant research chapters, offering a comprehensive overview of recent developments in the field of agricultural and biological sciences. The book comprises single chapters authored by various researchers and edited by an expert active in the medical research area. All chapters are complete in itself but united under a common research study topic. This publication aims at providing a thorough overview of the latest research efforts by international authors on herbs and spices, and opening new possible research paths for further novel developments.

Annotation Dairy products constitute one of the most important types of functional food. Edited by two of the leading authorities in this area, this major collection reviews how functional dairy products help to prevent such chronic diseases as cancer, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. Part 2 considers product development and such issues as clinical trials and safety evaluation. Part 3 examines particular types of product from oligosaccharides to lactic acid bacteria. CONTENTS Introduction: classifying functional dairy products. Part 1 The health benefits of functional dairy products: Cancer; Coronary heart disease; Osteoporosis; Probiotics and the management of food allergy; Dairy products and the immune function in the elderly; The therapeutic use of probiotics in gastrointestinal inflammation. Part 2 Functional dairy ingredients: Caseinophosphopeptides (CPPs) as functional ingredients; Oligosaccharides; Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in functional dairy products; Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) as a functional ingredient. Part 3 Product development: Enhancing the functionality of prebiotics and probiotics; Safety evaluation of probiotics; Clinical trials; Consumers and functional foods; European research in probiotics and prebiotics: the PROEUHEALTH cluster; The market for functional dairy products: the case of the United States.

This book (24 chapters) covers the chemistry (chemical composition and structure) of the following spice plants and their products, and provides brief information on the morphology, and postharvest management (storage, packaging and grading) of these crops: black pepper (Piper nigrum), small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), large cardamom (Amomum subulatum), ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and cassia (Cinnamomum spp.), clove, nutmeg and mace, coriander (Coriandrum sativum), cumin (Cuminum cyminum), fennel, fenugreek, paprika and chilli (Capsicum spp.), vanilla (Vanilla spp.), ajowan (Trachyspermum ammi), star anise (Illicium verum), aniseed (Pimpinella anisum), garcinia (Garcinia spp.), tamarind, parsley, celery, curry leaf (Murraya koenigii) and bay leaf (Laurus nobilis). This book will be useful to researchers, industrialists and postgraduate students of agriculture, horticulture and phytochemistry, and to spice traders and processors.