Nutrition, Health, and Disease: Role of Selected Marine and Vegetal Nutraceuticals

Abstract

The investigation of new alternatives for disease prevention through the application of findings from dietary and food biotechnology is an ongoing challenge for the scientific community. New nutritional trends and the need to meet social and health demands have inspired the concept of functional foods and nutraceuticals which, in addition to their overall nutritional value, present certain properties for the maintenance of health. However, these effects are not universal. Nutrigenetics describes how the genetic profile has an impact on the response of the body to bioactive food components by influencing their absorption, metabolism, and site of action. The EbioSea Program, for biomarine prospection, and the Blue Butterfly Program, for the screening of vegetable-derived bioproducts, have identified a new series of nutraceuticals, devoid of side effects at conventional doses, with genotype-dependent preventive and therapeutic activity. Nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics provide the opportunity to explore the inter-individual differences in the metabolism of and response to nutrients, achieving optimal results. This fact leads to the concept of personalized nutrition as opposed to public health nutrition. Consequently, the development and prescription of nutraceuticals according to the individual genetic profile is essential to improve their effectiveness in the prevention and natural treatment of prevalent diseases.

Atremorine in Parkinson's disease: From dopaminergic neuroprotection to pharmacogenomics

“…All patients provided informed consent and the research protocol was approved by the Research/Ethics Committee of CIBE (research project: Atremorine-201-11, approved on March 28, 2018). All samples were processed as previously described [55][56][57][58][59][60] and stored at CIBE BioBank (Collection C000925), according to standard ethical procedures as established by Spanish Law (Organic Law on Biomedical Research, July 14, 2007).…”

“…43,54 Another option has been to search for novel compounds, either synthetic or derived from natural sources, with a dual capacity: neurotrophic activity to protect dopaminergic neurons both prophylactically and/or therapeutically, and potential for stimulating DA synthesis and release under hypodopaminergic conditions. Within the Blue Butterfly Program, 55,56 we identified a novel Favalin from Vicia faba with such properties. 12,13,[57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65] Atremorine (E-PodoFavalin-1599929) 57 is a novel biopharmaceutical compound obtained by means of nondenaturing biotechnological procedures from structural components of Vicia faba L. (Fabaceae).…”

Nutraceutical Alternatives to Pharmaceutical Analgesics in Osteoarthritis

“…Corzo et al [279] "Nutraceuticals are biological substances extracted from natural sources by nondenaturing processes to preserve their original properties without any chemical manipulation. " Table 1.…”

Natural Marine and Terrestrial Compounds as Modulators of Matrix Metalloproteinases-2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9 in Alzheimer’s Disease

“…Better knowledge on products that modulate MMPs could inspire new approaches for treatment of neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases such as AD. Natural bioactive products extracted from plants, minerals, animals, and microorganism are common claimed nutraceuticals, and they have been used to fight many diseases [ 20 ]. Knowledge on medicinal use of natural products is often handed over from one generation to another, and it stems from thousands of years ago when medicinal plants, rich in phytochemicals and microorganisms, were a major source of medicines.…”