Medicinal Plants and Foods

Medicinal Plants and Foods

Medicines, Specific
Plant
Drugs
Pharmacy

Consumers are concerned about the use of synthetic additives in foods and this has forced food processors to find ways to produce food products without the use of these additives. Therefore there is a need in the food industry to find “clean label” products. In this context, the inclusion of medicinal plants into food products is an excellent strategy to produce functional foods, because plant-based extracts are rich in phytochemicals, with particular importance due to the health-beneficial effects. Therefore, it is reasonable to imagine that, over the next few decades, the uses of natural extracts from medicinal plants will rapidly increase. In this sense, the search for new, effective and cheap sources of bioactive compounds is attracting food industry interest. However, it is important to study the implication on sensory characteristics of natural extracts of medicinal plants on foods to select specific raw materials; some of them of residual origin are especially promising due to their lower costs. Natural extracts from medicinal plants can be used as effective strategies for the production of functional foods, therefore achieving a significant increase in social and environmental sustainability. However, extensive research on sensory characteristics, antioxidant and antimicrobial sources, optimization of concentration of the extracts and a better knowledge of the mechanisms of the implication on shelf life of food, is still required.

Gema Nieto (Ed.)

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/medicines/special_issues/medicinal plants

MDPI
St. Alban-Anlage 66
4052 Basel, Switzerland

2020

Gema Nieto
J®F

CC BY-NC-ND

Pdf

English

Textbooks

ISBN 978-3-03943-398-8 (Hbk)
ISBN 978-3-03943-399-5 (PDF)