Bioactive food ingredients are non-essential substances found in foods that can modulate one or more metabolic processes, resulting in enhanced health. Functional diets have attracted more critical than ever as an alternative to conventional treatments of many diseases. The medicinal potential of functional foods and nutraceuticals is due to some unique functional groups produced due to food metabolism and their molecular variants. Phytochemicals are biologically active, naturally occurring chemical compounds in plants with various biological properties and therapeutic benefits. While functional foods and natural bioactive compounds have been used as conventional medicines to treat chronic diseases for decades, recent scientific findings identify functional foods' health advantages and present their behavior's basic mechanisms. Phytochemicals have essential bioactive roles in the prevention and treatment of oxidative and inflammatory diseases. Plant-derived bioactive compounds can help suppress inflammation by inhibiting oxidative damage and communicating with the immune system. Many bioactive components are capable of binding to intestinal tract toxins or carcinogens. These bioactive peptides control Diet-related medical conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and other metabolic diseases. Various bioactive compounds in common food and their therapeutic role is discussed in this review.Keywords: Functional food, phytochemicals, bioactive peptides, therapeutic effects.

No abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus causes changes in the structural or functional anatomy of the heart. A high blood glucose level and oxidative stress are key factors in diabetic cardiac damage. Ferulic acid (4-hydroxy-3-methoxy cinnamic acid) is a biologically active compound in many functional foods like fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs. It belongs to the group of cinnamic acid derivatives.Objective: In the present study, we investigated the effects of Ferulic acid (FA) on Streptozotocin-induced diabetic cardiac damage in male Sprague Dawley rats.Materials and methods: A total of 30 male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups of six each. Diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of Streptozotocin (STZ) (40 mg/kg body weight). Group I consisted of normal rats (N); group II consisted of normal rats treated with FA (N+FA); group III consisted of STZ-induced diabetic rats (D), and groups IV and V consisted of STZ-induced diabetic rats treated with FA at a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight and glibenclamide at a dose of 5 mg/kg body weight respectively (N+FA and N+G) for 60 days. Rats were sacrificed after the treatment period, and blood and heart tissue were collected for analysis.Results: STZ injection significantly increased blood glucose, HbA1c, cardiac marker enzymes LDH, CK-MB, and oxidative stress in heart tissue. The oral administration of FA to diabetic rats for 60 days significantly improved diabetic markers, oxidative stress, and cardiac markers.Conclusion: The present study indicated that FA affords cardioprotective effect in diabetic rats, and this protection may be due in part to the attenuation of oxidative stress.Keywords: ferulic acid, streptozotocin, diabetes, cardiac damage, oxidative stress

Background:  Hyperglycemia and oxidative stress are hallmarks of diabetes mellitus (DM). Excessive oxidative stress is implicated in diabetic pathogenesis when endogenous antioxidants are defective.Objective: The present study evaluates the effects of anthocyanins present in the petals of Hibiscus rosa- sinensis on oxidative stress and antioxidant status in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.Materials and methods: Diabetes was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats by a single intraperitoneal injection (30mg/kg) of streptozotocin. Hibiscus rosa sinensis anthocyanins (HA) extract (50 mg/kg body weight) orally administered to diabetic rats for 30 days. Results compared with diabetic rats provided with the standard drug metformin (150 mg/kg body weight).Results: Altered levels of glucose, glycated hemoglobin, toxicity markers and lipid profile in serum were significantly modulated upon the administration of HA in diabetic rats. A supplementation of HA to diabetic rats reduced oxidative stress, as well as increased the levels of antioxidant enzymes in the liver. The present study demonstrates that HA has a protective effect on diabetic ratsConclusion: The present study indicates that Hibiscus anthocyanin supplementation could protect diabetic rats' livers by protecting the hepatocytes from oxidative stress and increasing the antioxidant enzymes' activity.  Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Hibiscus rosa sinensis anthocyanins, Oxidative stress

Background: Diabetes mellitus is widely recognized as one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Hyperglycaemia-mediated oxidative stress plays a significant role in the development and progression of diabetes - induced liver damage.Objective: The main aim of the study was to explore the modulatory effect of the flavonoid morin (3,5,7,2’,4’ -pentahydroxyflavone) on oxidative stress and carbohydrate metabolism in the liver of streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats.Methods: Diabetes was induced in male albino rats by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (40 mg/kg body weight) and subsequently, the animals were given morin intragastrically at a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight for 60 consecutive days. At the end of the treatment period, the animals were sacrificed by an intraperitoneal injection of thiopentone sodium. Blood and liver tissue were collected for further biochemical evaluation and the effects were compared with diabetic rats administered metformin, a standard antidiabetic drug.Results: Elevated blood glucose and HbA1c levels in diabetic rats were significantly decreased by morin administration. Morin effectively modulated the alternations in the concentration of lipid peroxidation products, activities of antioxidant enzymes and carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes in the liver of diabetic rats. The overall effects were comparable with diabetic rats administered with metformin.Conclusion: The results of our study proved that the morin administration exerts hepatoprotective activity by decreasing oxidative stress and regulating the altered activities of carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes in diabetes.Keywords: diabetes, morin, liver, oxidative stress, carbohydrate metabolism