Abstract

Nutraceutical is a term derived from two words, “nutrition” and “pharmaceutical”. This particular group of food derived products shows various health benefits. These products are being used in the treatment of cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, retinopathy, age-related problems and many more physiological and neurological disorders. In the post-COVID-19 scenario the whole world is looking for natural product-based treatment methods and immunity boosting products to improve the general wellness of people. Oils and fats are known as the category of food that supply more than double the energy compared to proteins and carbohydrates. It also gives texture and palatability of foods and enhances the taste of foods by providing characteristic flavour. It also supplies essential fatty acids that human body cannot generate on its own. The polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) present in oils and fats regulate metabolic functions. Another well-known benefit of consumption of oils and fats in food servings is that it supplies the oil-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Deficiencies of these vitamins can have a tremendous effect on the general health of a person. Triglycerides or triacylglycerols are the primary components of oils and fats. However, there are some minor components of oils and fats that show health benefits and can be used for the treatment of various diseases. A good processor tries to keep all these nutraceuticals and nutritionally important components intact in the refined oils and fats products to improve the quality of the oils. However, many of these important components get lost during the refining of oils and fats. Nutraceuticals like lecithin, carotenoids, isoflavones, phytosterol, steryl esters, tocopherols, etc. get concentrated in various by-products of oils and fats processing. Apart from few exceptions, most of these nutraceuticals are not recovered or utilized. There exists a huge scope to isolate these nutraceuticals and explore the health benefits for treatment of various diseases. In this article, the importance of these nutraceuticals that are derived from oils and fats will be discussed.

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