**Nutraceutical, Nutrition Supplements and Human Health**

Special Issue Editors

**Rafat A. Siddiqui Mohammed H. Moghadasian**

MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade • Manchester • Tokyo • Cluj • Tianjin

*Special Issue Editors* Rafat A. Siddiqui Virginia State University USA

Mohammed H. Moghadasian St. Boniface Hospital Canada

*Editorial Office* MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland

This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal *Nutrients* (ISSN 2072-6643) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients/special issues/ Nutraceutica Nutrition).

For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below:

LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. *Journal Name* **Year**, *Article Number*, Page Range.

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c 2020 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications.

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### **Contents**



#### **Alessio Martucci, Delia Reurean-Pintilei and Anamaria Manole**


### **About the Special Issue Editors**

**Rafat A. Siddiqui**, Associate Professor. Dr. Rafat Siddiqui is currently working as Associate Professor and Director of the Nutrition Science Food Chemistry Laboratory at Virginia State University, Petersburg, Virginia, United States. Dr. Siddiqui earned his BSc and MSc degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Karachi in Karachi, Pakistan. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. Dr. Siddiqui served as a postdoctoral fellow at Massey University in Palmerton North, New Zealand. He immigrated to America in 1989 and worked as a Howard Hughes Research Fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Dr. Siddiqui began his work as a researcher at Methodist Hospital/Methodist Research Institute in 1993 and served as the Director of Cellular Biochemistry and Lipid Biology programs from 2000–2015. He is an internationally recognized expert in nutrition in many areas, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, and neurosciences. He has published over 100 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and has written several invited review articles, book chapters, commentaries, and editorials on emerging issues. He has been invited as a keynote speaker at several national and international conferences. Dr. Siddiqui's research has been supported by funding from National Institutes of Health (NCI), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the American Heart Association (AHA), the Showalter Foundation, the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI, Indiana), and the pharmaceutical companies, including Baxter and Abbott Laboratories. Dr. Siddiqui's research has been featured on BBC, FOX TV, and WTHR broadcasts, as well as in the Sun, Telegraph, Indianapolis Star newspapers, and several other media outlets. He is on the editorial board of numerous journals, including the British Journal of Nutrition. His recent work focuses on the health benefits of grape pomace, green papaya, pomegranate, plums, ginger, and turmeric extracts. At present, Dr. Siddiqui's research interests are in cancer, inflammation, and cardiovascular diseases. His research emphasis is on the synergistic modulation of chronic diseases by a combination of nutrients and drugs.

**Mohammed H. Moghadasian**, Professor. Dr. Moghadasian completed a master's program in Pharmacology and Therapeutics and a PhD program in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. After extensive post-doctoral training, Dr. Moghadasian was appointed as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and St. Paul's Hospital, the University of British Columbia in 2000. Dr. Moghadasian moved to the University of Manitoba in 2003. He is currently a full-time tenured Professor in the Department of Human Nutritional Sciences, and a Principal Investigator within the Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine (CCARM). Dr. Moghadasian is known for his excellent contribution to the understanding of the pathogenesis of dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis using well-established animal models, namely, apolipoprotein E-deficient and LDL-receptor knockout mice. His laboratory has received funding from several granting agencies including CIHR, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, NSERC, Manitoba Health Research Council, Manitoba Medical Services Foundation, University of Manitoba, and others to further investigate the pathogenesis of atherogenesis and dyslipidemia. The impact of dietary intervention on these disorders is another focus of Dr. Moghadasian's research team. His studies have resulted in over one hundred peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals, one book entitled "Functional Foods and Cardiovascular Disease" and many book chapters. His outstanding contributions have been recognized by the international scientific community and made him an authority in the area of Functional Foods and Cardiovascular Disorders.

### *Editorial* **Nutraceuticals and Nutrition Supplements: Challenges and Opportunities**

#### **Rafat A. Siddiqui 1,\* and Mohammed H. Moghadasian 2,3**


Received: 26 May 2020; Accepted: 27 May 2020; Published: 29 May 2020

The term "nutraceuticals" is derived from "nutrition" and "pharmaceuticals" and is used for nutrition products that are also used as medicine [1]. "Nutraceuticals" often contain modified/unmodified whole food, plant extracts alone or in combination, semipurified and purified phytochemicals, or a combination of different phytochemicals. On the other hand, nutritional supplements are nutritional compounds that supplement one's diet by increasing one's total daily intake. Nutritional supplements also contain substances alone or in combination with vitamins and minerals, with or without other herbal products, with or without zoochemicals (creatinine, glucosamine, melatonin, bee pollens) and with or without probiotics.

Nutraceuticals and nutrition supplements are collectively referred to as "dietary supplements," intended to be taken orally [2]. The use of supplements is suggested to (but may not claim to) diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent diseases. Often, background information suggests that they are intended to affect the structure or function of the body [3]. However, they do not undergo premarket approval. The common reasons for using dietary supplements are to improve conditions such as overall health and disease prevention, performance (athletics, sports, sex, etc.) and appearance (weight loss, sex appeal) [4]. These are often perceived as "safe" and less likely to have side effects. The scientific research on nutraceuticals and nutrition supplements is frequently misinterpreted or overstretched for commercial interests because of high consumer demands. The manufacturing and marketing of supplements are full of challenges.

Several challenges associated with the development of nutraceuticals are often ignored because of a lack of authoritative control. These challenges include identification of the authentic source of raw materials, purity of the compound, presence of other active compounds, quality, lack of experimental evidence, false advertising, contamination with heavy metals, and interactions between supplements and drugs. For example, a common herb "ginseng" has several varieties [5] such as California ginseng, wild ginseng, prickly ginseng, Pacific ginseng, Malaysian ginseng, Indian ginseng, Peruvian ginseng, Southern ginseng, Brazilian ginseng, and wild-red ginseng. All of these are sold as ginseng, but none of these belongs to the genus *Panax*, which contains real ginseng including Korean ginseng (*P. ginseng*), South China ginseng (*P. notoginseng*) and American ginseng (*P. quinquefolius*). Some varieties of star anise have several hundred-fold anisatin, a neurotoxin, that the authentic star anise (*Illicium verum*) has [6]. The supplements that are not prepared under strict GMP conditions may have unintentional contamination [7], including microbes (pathogens/nonpathogens), pesticides, mycotoxin (aflatoxin), heavy metals (seaweeds), zinc (cadmium), and calcium (lead). In addition, some supplements such as those commonly used for weight loss, body building, and sex enhancement are spiked with prohibited drugs to improve efficacy [8]. Some manufacturers also try to use a closely related herb, which may or may not have the active ingredients. For example, goldenseal (*Hydrastis canadensis*), used for berberine/hydrastine content, is often substituted with goldthread (*Coptis chinensis*) or Oregon grape (*Mahonia aquifolium*), which may have low or no berberine/hydrastine [9].

Besides, maintaining the quality of nutraceuticals is another challenge, as phytochemistry is inherently variable due to seasonal and geographical variations [10]. It is challenging to measure and maintain consistency in finished products and limit undesirable constituents. Interaction of herbal supplements with medicinal drugs is also a big concern [11]. For example, St. John's wort (*Hypericum perforaum*) is used as an effective antidepressant, but it also activates several cytochrome P450 isoenzymes, which make a large number of medicinal drugs ineffective [12,13]. Among all the major concerns for using the nutraceuticals is the lack of scientific evidence [14]. Some are never tested under properly controlled experimental conditions, and unlike pharmaceuticals, most nutraceuticals do not undergo "randomized controlled clinical studies."

The purpose of this Special Issue on "Nutraceuticals, Nutrition Supplements, and Human Health" is to comprehensively review the data from basic and clinical research to discuss the benefits as well as potential adverse effects of "functional food-derived" products. We have invited international experts, researchers and authors to submit original research and review articles that address the progress and our current understanding of nutraceuticals/supplements from in vitro and in vivo studies, as well as from clinical trials describing the benefits/adverse effects with underlying mechanisms. This Special Issue presents a compendium of excellent laboratory and clinical studies using plant extracts [15–20], purified compounds [21–23], modified formulations [22,24], and probiotics [25–28] to improve many health conditions, including metabolic disorders [17,20], cardiovascular disease [29], muscle metabolism [18,25], obesity [16,17,20], neurological disorders [30], infectious diseases [26,27], aging [23], and cancers [18,21,24,31].

This Special Issue's overall goal is to present readers with high-quality scientific evidence for the use of dietary supplements, nutraceuticals, and functional foods that can be appropriately used to improve health parameters in various stages of one's lifecycle. We thank all the contributors for their contributions and for their dedication to making a difference in human health with low-cost remedies.

**Author Contributions:** R.A.S. and M.H.M. equally contributed in the preparation of this editorial. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

#### **Funding:** None.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors greatly acknowledge the contribution of all authors for this Special Issue.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**


© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

*Article*
