Lifestyle modifications and diet therapy are two of the most important tools in prevention and treatment of cardiovascular risk factors, cancer and other chronic diseases. In keeping to this, increasing epidemiological data support the concept that diet rich in fruit and vegetables promotes health and attenuate, or delay, the onset of various diseases, including heart disease, hypertension, cancer and certain age-related degenerative disorders. Over the past decades increasing research interest has been addressed to the potential health benefits of polyphenols. According to this, it has been suggested that the health benefits from fruit and vegetables can be partially linked to their content of a certain group of polyphenols, the flavonoids. A large body of evidence supports that dietary intake of polyphenols (particularly flavonoids and the specific class of flavonoids named flavanols largely contained in red wine, cocoa, tea, fruits and vegetables) might exert some beneficial vascular effects, reduce the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and contribute to the prevention of other chronic diseases. Among phytochemicals, polyphenols constitute one of the most numerous and widely distributed groups of substances in the plant kingdom, with more than 8000 phenolic structures. They occurred in a variety of fruits, vegetables, seeds, flowers, beverages and even some manufactured food as a component of the natural ingredients used.
These bioactive compounds typically occur in small quantities in foods. They are being intensively studied to evaluate their effects on health. The impetus sparking this scientific inquiry was the result of many epidemiologic studies that have shown protective effects of plant-based diets on cardiovascular disease and cancer. According to this, growing interest has been addresed to many bioactive compounds. These compounds vary widely in chemical structure and function and are grouped accordingly.
Plant polyphenols have drawn increasing attention due to their potent antioxidant properties and their marked effects in the prevention of various oxidative stress associated diseases. In the last few years, the identification and development of phenolic compounds or extracts from different plants has become a major area of health- and medical-related research.
Adequate nutrition is one of the pillars of public health. Before developing and implementing effective intervention programmes to improve nutrition at the population level, it is important to know the nutritional situation of the target group.
Therefore, the time lapse for hidden progression of pathological process may take years and even decades. During this time, both the person at risk and physician remain unaware of the existing premorbid pathological condition. As a result, no preventive measures are undertaken to reduce the individual risk of the development of the overt disease.
Polyphenols are abundant nutraceutical micronutrients in our diet, and evidence for their role in the prevention of degenerative diseases is emerging.
The WHO estimated that the costs of not engaging in prevention and therapy will be fastly growing in the next years, with a more severe impact in developing countries. Several natural nutraceutical from our diet and ingredients marketed for use in dietary supplements address such risk factors. The ability of nutraceuticals to favorably influence cardiovascular risk factors and atherosclerotic vascular disease as well as a number of different chronic disease should be recognized as an enormous opportunity for the prevention or treatment of this common condition.
