Functional Foods for Health: The Interrelated Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Role of Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs, Spices and Cocoa in Humans

Abstract

The health benefits of plant food-based diets could be related to both integrated antioxidant and antiinflammatory mechanisms exerted by a wide array of phytochemicals present in fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices. Therefore, there is mounting interest in identifying foods, food extracts and phytochemical formulations from plant sources which are able to efficiently modulate oxidative and inflammatory stress to prevent diet-related diseases. This paper reviews available evidence about the effect of supplementation with selected fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices and their extracts or galenic formulation on combined markers of redox and inflammatory status in humans.

Keywords: Antioxidants; functional foods; human; inflammation; oxidative stress; plant foods..