Chapters authored
Antioxidant-Rich Vegetables: Impact on Human Health
Antioxidants are valuable ingredients present in vegetables. Vegetables are essential and crucial in human’s health and diet because of their minerals, antioxidant vitamins, phytochemical compounds, and dietary fibre content. This is the reason why an adequate consumption of vegetables has been linked with reduced risk and protection against various chronic diseases. Notably, each vegetable belongs to a group that contains a unique quantity of phytochemical compounds, which distinguish them from other groups and even within their group. The exact mechanisms by which the consumption of vegetables protects against human diseases are yet to be fully understood. However, the phytochemicals present in vegetables could be responsible for attenuating some of them. These phytochemicals are strong antioxidants that reduce the risk of chronic diseases by mounting resistance against the generation of free radicals and their damage. They are also involved in the modification of metabolic activation, detoxification of carcinogenic compounds, or attack of tumour formation in cells. This review highlights the inherent antioxidant potentials of vegetables, their roles as an excellent source of antioxidants and their impact on human health and diseases. Information provided in this review will provide more insight into the roles of antioxidants present in vegetables.
Part of the book: Vegetable Crops
Inhibition of Multidrug Resistance by Polyphenolic Phytochemicals of Citrus Fruits
The incidence of multidrug resistance (MDR) during treatment is rising, persisting and spreading globally due to the emergence of resistance to multiple antibiotics. This is a serious challenge that is causing clinical failures in the treatment of infections and diseases, persistent illnesses, higher costs for health maintenance, higher risk of mortality and threat to public health. It is widely acknowledged that polyphenols present in citrus fruits exhibit beneficial effects in the inhibition of MDR, and as such, they could serve as appealing potential therapeutics in this regard. Some of the mechanisms citrus polyphenols employed in preventing the occurrence of MDR in cancer and bacterial cells have been identified. They include the initiation of apoptosis through modulation of the PI3K/Akt pathway, inhibition of P-glycoprotein function, enhancement of the intracellular accumulation of drugs, arrest of the cell cycle at G0/G1 phase, downregulation of the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and others. Taking into account the significance of MDR, this review highlights the mechanisms of MDR and the potential inherent in citrus polyphenols in fruits in reversing it.
Part of the book: Citrus Research