Abstract
Few topics are able to channel the interest of researchers, the public, and industries, like nutraceuticals. The ever-increasing demand of new compounds or new sources of known active compounds, along with the need of a better knowledge about their effectiveness, mode of action, safety, etc., led to a significant effort towards the development of analytical approaches able to answer the many questions related to this topic. Therefore, the application of cutting edges approaches to this area has been observed. Among these approaches, metabolomics is a key player. Herewith, the applications of NMR-based metabolomics to nutraceutical research are discussed: after a brief overview of the analytical workflow, the use of NMR-based metabolomics to the search for new compounds or new sources of known nutraceuticals are reviewed. Then, possible applications for quality control and nutraceutical optimization are suggested. Finally, the use of NMR-based metabolomics to study the impact of nutraceuticals on human metabolism is discussed.
Highlights
The last decades have witnessed a growing interest towards nutraceuticals and an exponential increase in the consumption of nutraceutical products [1]
An example is the study by Kadum et al.: they used an experimental approach based on NMR based metabolomics in order to identify the antioxidant bioactive compounds from different varieties of dates Phoenix dactylifera L. (Ajwa, Anbara, Piyarom, Rabbi, and Deglet Nour) [31]
Several studies have been published in which NMR-based metabolomics and related approaches have been used in order to find new sources of well-known and in some cases established nutraceuticals (Table 2)
Summary
The last decades have witnessed a growing interest towards nutraceuticals and an exponential increase in the consumption of nutraceutical products [1]. This classification is rather arbitrary and it is increasingly clear that there are many overlaps, primary metabolites are crosswise present in all organisms and are involved in basic essential functions for living, while specialized metabolites are species specific and essential for plant survival in environmental interactions [6] The latter are often endowed with a variety of biological activities that make these metabolites candidates as drugs and as health promoting factors. We do not mean it to be a comprehensive review of the large body of literature on the topic, but rather a selection of studies that highlight the extent of the impact of this approach to the growing field of nutraceuticals research along with suggestions of possible applications based on the success of the approach in related fields To this end, the NMR-based metabolomics approach is shortly presented, especially in terms of the common experimental approaches. We describe how NMR-based metabolomics can be instrumental to the study of the metabolic fate of nutraceuticals in human body
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