Nutraceutical

Antioxidants play a vital role in protection against various diseases and disorders. In search for new antioxidants, nutraceuticals are extensively studied for their preventive effects. Paspalum scrobiculatum Linn., commonly known as Kodo millet, is a minor millet found in India having pharmacological importance. Whole grains of kodo millet were evaluated for its antioxidant potential. Five different extracts of kodo millet, i.e. 70% ethanol, 70% methanol, ethyl acetate, chloroform and petroleum ether extracts were screened for their reducing capacity and free radical scavenging capacity. 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) Assay was performed using ascorbic acid as standard at 515 nm. The reducing capacity was measured at 700 nm with ascorbic acid as reference standard. Highest radical quenching was observed in ethanol extract, 64.609 ± 0.131µg/ml Ascorbic Acid Equivalent (AAE). The reducing capacity was found maximum in ethanol extract, followed by methanol. All the extracts showed antioxidant potential and the hydro-alcoholic extracts, i.e. methanol and ethanol showed high reducing and radical scavenging capacity respectively. The results of preliminary study indicate that the grains of Paspalum scrobiculatum have good antioxidant potential and these can be used as potent Nutraceutical against target diseases which can be studied further.

For Indigenous people, food is also a medicine; they have rich traditional practices of using food in the management of various health problems. Arunachal Pradesh is a mountainous state with full of floral resources; aborigines of this state use numbers of food plants in their health practices. The folk food system in Arunachal Pradesh is composed mostly of semi-domesticated and wild collected vegetables. The present study was carried out to document the folk medicinal food plants used among the indigenous people of East Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh. The folk food plants are studied under nutraceutical point of view. Our work revealed a total of 36 plant species of folk medicinal food plants. The findings are given with scientific name, local name and uses as food and medicine in the paper.

Ethnic communities inhabiting Jharkhand state are living in true harmony with nature. They entirely depend on plants and plant resources for their livelihood. Plants use in tribal belt is as diverse as the ethnic diversity. The paper focuses on lesser known nutraceutical plants, usually  not known to the modern society but form an important dietary part of the ethnic people and provide them both nutritional and health security. These vegetables are lesser known and under-utilized resources, which are rich both in nutrients and secondary metabolites, providing nutritional and health security (nutraceutical). These plant resources grow their own, thrive easily on inhospitable conditions without any input, give new taste and are free of chemical pesticides and insecticides. In view of the large scale utilization of land area in the name of various kinds of developmental activities there is an urgent need of enlisting wild nutraceutical potherbs and documentation of their therapeutic uses before it is too late. The present paper describes 35 plants species which are widely consumed amongst ethnic communities.