Fruits and Vegetables: Micronutrient and Antioxidants Quality
Publishing: Studium Press (India) Pvt. Ltd.
About the Book
Food science has emerged with a growing literature about fruits and vegetables imparting greater health benefits to humans. The recent focus has been on functionality of foods meaning thereby of improving quality of diet by identifying foods which boost the capacity of human body to resist disease and enhance health. These alternative medicinal approaches of increasing intake of antioxidant and micronutrient rich foods are valuable in coping up the oxidative stress which is associated with many health disorders such as increased prevalence of diabetes, cataract, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. There is a need to develop awareness about consumption of protective foods such as green leafy, fruit and root vegetables, the intakes of which is far below their recommended dietary allowances. The last two decades of research has brought more understanding of the functions and new roles of micronutrients and other active principles from fruits and vegetables. They have multiple metabolic functions and they are integral components of antioxidant enzymes that protect organism against free radical damage. It is important to know the adequacy of micronutrient contents of diet to prevent oneself from possible deficiency or excess. Although there are some books and reports available on micronutrient contents of raw fruits and vegetables, the data on cooked vegetables are scanty. Further, systematic data on antioxidant quality of commonly consumed fruits and vegetables both in their raw and cooked form is not available. Hence, there is a need of a reference book to educate researchers, clinicians, students and even health aware individuals about the individual antioxidants and micronutrients and the nutraceutical potential of fruits and vegetables available in local markets so as to emphasize their importance as inexpensive and natural sources having health promoting properties. Audience/Readership: The book would be useful to nutritionists, food scientists, home science students, graduate and post graduate of medical colleges, medical and health professionals, policy makers of child and women health as also the homemakers.
Contents:
Foreword; Preface; List of Abbreviations; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants; Essential Micronutrients with Antioxidant Functions; Antioxidant Defense System of Human Body; Fruits and Vegetables as Antioxidant Sources; Assessment of Antioxidant Potential of Fruits and Vegetables; Importance of Data on Micronutrient and Anti-oxidant Quality; Importace of Vitamins in Our Diet: Vitamins with Antioxidant Functions; Vitamin E; An Overview of Vitamins; Minerals as Important Component of Our Diet; Iron; Food Sources; Iron Overload; Recent Reports on Iron as Micronutrient; Copper; Manganese; RDA; Selenium; Zinc; Zinc Dutiny Growth and Development; An Overview of Minerals; Antioxidants: The Biological Fire Fighters: Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants; Antioxidant Defense System; Free Radicals and Antioxidants; Factors Influencing Antioxidant Activity of Fruits and Vegetables; Agronomic Practices; Cooking Methods; Industrial Processing; Methods; Review of Literature About Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables: Strategies for Improving Fruit and Vegetable Intakes; Vegetarianism and Fruit-vegetable Intake; Factors Influencing Fruit and Vegetable Consumption; Linkages of Fruitvegetable Consumption with Cancer; Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Other Health Problems; Development of Semi-quantitative ‘Antioxidant & Micronutrient Quality Index’ (AQI and MQI): Introduction; Approach and Development of A Tool for AQI and MQI; Annexures I-VII: I. Average Weights of Standard Measures for Each Food Item; II. Description of Traditional Indian Food Items with their Main Ingredients; III. Micronutrients in Health and Diseases; IV. Botanical Names of Fruits and Vegetables; V. Antioxidant Potential of Green Leafy Vegetables; VI. Methodology for Assessment of Antioxidant Micronutrient Potential; VII. Review of Literature on Development of Quality Index; Subject Index
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