Sadiq Jaafir Aziz Almusawi

Nutraceuticals have taken on considerable significance due to their supposed safety and possible nutritional and medicinal effects. Pharmaceutical and dietary companies are conscious of monetary success, which benefits healthier consumers and the altering trends that result in these heart-oriented value-added products being proliferated. Numerous nutraceuticals are claimed to have multiple therapeutic benefits despite advantages, and unwanted effects encompass a lack of substantial evidence. Several common nutraceuticals involve glucosamine, omega-3, Echinacea, cod liver oil, folic acid, ginseng, orange juice supplemented with calcium, and green tea. This review is dedicated to improving the understanding of nutrients based on specific illness indications. It was reported that functional foods contain physiologically active components that confer various health benefits. Studies have shown that some foods and dietary patterns play a major role in the primary prevention of many ailment conditions that lead to putative functional foods being identified. Research and studies are needed to support the possible health benefits of different functional foods that have not yet been clinically validated for the relationships between diet and health. The term “functional foods” may additionally involve health/functional health foods, foods enriched with vitamins/minerals, nutritional improvements, or even conventional medicines.

Cucumber sometimes used in sodium chloride solution as a substrate in lactic acid bacteria fermentation. The good fermentation always depending on many overlapped physical, chemical and microbial factors related with suspension of a strong and porous vegetables in a fluid. Keeping the cucumber integrity is very critical issue, and this may affect on the fermentation of liquid ingredients. This chapter tries to focus on the current efforts that conducting to control on the factors that affecting on cucumber fermentation. Modern and advanced technologies of recent studies are included within this chapter just like reducing the brining sodium chloride concentration, fresh cucumber gas exchange to develop their brining properties by using lactic acid bacteria cultures, developing an anaerobic cucumber fermentation tank system; preventing of cucumber gaseous spoilage by pouring of CO2 from fermentation brines.

The prebiotic effect of three concentrations of thirteen crude plant extracts: eight aqueous extracts (rosemary, dill, garlic, ginger, flaxseeds, thyme, oat, and moringa leaves); and five Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) extracts (rosemary, dill, garlic, ginger and flaxseeds) on ten different probiotic LAB was studied. Some strains (Lactobacillus brevis KP653, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis KP645, and Lactobacillus acidophilus CHA2) were sensitive to the plant extracts, and relative decline in the growth was noticed. While, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii KT615, Bifidobacterium longum 141B, Lactobacillus plantarum KP623, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus YASH2, Lactobacillus johnsonii A1, Lactobacillus casei YA1, and Streptocccus thermophilus T11 were positively influenced with the presence of some extracts. Sixteen synbiotic yoghurt trials were prepared, which produced well-formed set-yoghurt style, similar or close to the control in appearance. Total acceptability scores ranged between 76 and 98%. The highest value was recorded for the control, followed by yoghurt containing rosemary, dill, flaxseeds, thyme, oat, and moringa. While the lowest overall score was recorded for yoghurt containing garlic. Keywords: Nutraceutical, Probiotics, Prebiotics, synbiotic, yoghurt.