Lavanya, V
University of Agricultural Sciences
India
Title: Applications of Bioactive Compounds and their uses
Biography
Biography: Lavanya, V
Abstract
Fruits and vegetables are the abundant sources of bioactive compounds such as carotinoids, phenols, lignans, saponine etc. Bioactive compounds reacts in human body that may promote good health and effective in prevention of cancer, heart disease, and other chronic diseases. Nowadays, the demand for natural bioactive compounds is increasing due to their use in the functional food industries as well as in pharmaceutical industries. Plants produce a broad range of active compounds that usually exist inside cellular structures of plants. Bioactive compounds can be defined as the secondary plant metabolites eliciting pharmacological effect in man and animals. Compounds synthesized by plants that have the potential to be used by humans for a variety of applications. Nowadays, the demand for natural bioactive compounds is increasing due to their use in the functional food industry. Natural components from plants and other organisms are being used as: anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-hypertensive, anti-cancer etc. It is also being used as additives and food supplements in food industry. Bioactive compounds have actions in the body that may promote good health. They are being studied in the prevention of cancer, heart disease, and other diseases. Examples of bioactive compounds include lycopene, resveratrol, lignan, tannins, and indoles. These active compounds or secondary metabolites which play an important role in plants have been discovered in recent years. In many cases, these metabolites are unique to the individual species. In order to obtain these active compounds for sample preparation, qualitative and quantitative analysis, the initial step in separating active compounds from plant materials can be referred to extraction. There are number of conventional extraction methods for separation purpose. Some methods have been used for many years such as soxhelt extraction (SE), heat reflux extraction (HRE), steam distillation (SD) and solvent extraction. Now-a-days, many novel techniques for extraction of active compounds including Ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE), Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE).