Investigation on Nepalese Herbs, Spices, Food and Food Ingredients for their efficacy as a Nutraceutical and Functional foods

A DRAFT RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Prepared and submitted by

Department of Food Technology and Quality Control Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Nepal.

Submitted to

Danik M. Martirosyan, PhD. President

Functional Foods Center at D&A Inc. USA. 580 W Arapaho Road, Suite 130

Richardson, TX 75080-4359 Phone: (469) 441-8272

Fax: (214) 646-0022

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Investigation on Nepalese Herbs, Spices, Food and Food Ingredients for their efficacy as a Nutraceutical and Functional foods

Introduction and background:

Nutraceutical ingredients and functional foods, legally defined as natural

substances that may be used individually, in combination, or even added to food or

beverage for a particular technologic purpose or health benefits, must have an adequate

safety profile demonstrating the safety for consumption by humans. The option of health

and disease management by natural means has been embraced by a large fraction of the

world population. Striking growth in research on nutraceuticals and functional foods is an

integral and vital component of the revolution. Proof of efficacy and safety are two key

sets of information that underlie the successful use of nutraceuticals and functional foods

for the management of human health and well-being. Functional foods offer a new kind

of health message by promising specific effects caused by particular food products. These

foods promise a relatively swift benefit, usually a change in physiological measures like

blood cholesterol level or reducing elevated blood pressure.

Expanding knowledge of the role of physiologically active food components,

from both plant (phytochemicals) and animal (zoochemicals) sources, has notably

changed the role of diet in health. The development of functional foods has evolved as

food and nutrition science has advanced beyond the treatment of primary deficiency

syndromes. Development of functional food products will continue to grow throughout

the 21st century as consumer demand for healthful products grows. Factors contributing

to this reshaping of the food supply include the following:

1. An aging population;

2. Increased health care costs;

3. Self-efficacy, autonomy in health care, and an awareness and desire to enhance

personal health;

4. Advancing scientific evidence that diet can alter disease prevalence and

progression, and

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5. Most importantly, changes in food regulation.

Nutrients and nonnutritive food components have also been associated with the

prevention and/or treatment of chronic diseases such as cancer, coronary heart disease,

diabetes, hypertension, and osteoporosis. As the data supporting the role of diet in health

promotion and disease prevention continue to mount, it is likely that the quantity of

enhanced foods will expand substantially.

The Himalayan kingdom of Nepal is very rich in medicinal plant bio-diversity. Its

high pastures are home to many aromatic and medicinal plants some of which are

among the most popular in the traditional medical systems of the region called the

Ayurvedic. These medicinal plants, their products, and the traditional medicinal practice

have been preserved as unwritten (oral) tribal folklore. There is no record of this unique

empiric knowledge about plants having curative properties which generally get passed on

from one generation to another only verbally and many times kept secret. Thus there is a

need to extract medicinal plants mentioned in well known in Ayurveda, tribal

medicine and house hold remedies, to find out their efficacy by modern biochemical

and pharmacological methods. Ultimately, the active principle responsible for the

activity is to be ascertained. For the present study natural medicines and medicinal

foodstuffs of Nepal are chosen, which are well known for their chronic disease

preventing effects and most widely acclaimed remedy for the traditional treatment of

several disease and health complications since ancient times.

Objectives

This study aims at evaluating the potential of Nepalese traditional food and food

ingredients as Nutraceutical and functional foods. Therefore, selected traditional

Nepalese foods and food ingredients from different geographic locations will be studied.

Specifically, this study will have the following objectives:

1. To congregate the information about the ethnobotanical aspects and fulfill the

void of lack of information about these indigenous food and herbs. As a result of

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output of the proposed research can be taken as base line data for further

exploration of the subjects.

2. To study phytochemistry and biochemistry of the selcted potential food and herbs

and its active components;

3. To study health promotional activities of these selected potential foods and food

ingredients in the prevention or treatment of chronic disease, such as cancer,

diabetes, cardiovascular disease etc.

4. To study nutraceutical and functional efficacy of selected traditional Nepalese

food and food ingredients, and their possible use in the formulation of new

neutraceutical and functional foods.

5. To bring forward scientific evidence of studied food and herbs for

commercialization and increment in peopless livelihood of the Himalayan

kigdom of Nepal.

Tentative research plan

Ayurveda and other Nepali literature mention the use of food and herbs in treatment

of various human ailments. Ethnobotanical researches conducted in last few decades on

plants mentioned in ancient literature or used traditionally for tribal medicine have shown

such property. The proposed study investigates such foods and herbs and their products

(active, natural principles and crude extracts) that have been mentioned/used in the

Nepali traditional system of medicine. The research will evaluate the possible health

promotional activities of selected food and herbs, which may yield useful results in our

quest to develop new nutraceutical and functional foods and can be beneficially used in

the treatment and prevention of several human chronic diseases. Proposed research will

be conducted on these three different phases:

Phase I: Survey and collection of data and saples

Documentation of informations available on different traditional herbs and foods

that are being using in the traditional ayurbeda system; and sample collection.

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Phase II: Biochemical investigation

Nutritional and Biochemical evaluation of the samples for various health

promotional activities using chemical and biological guided assay.

Phase III: Trail and evaluation of applicability in the new formulations

Potential ingredients will be used in the formulation of new nutraceutical,

functional food and drinks. The efficacy of such health products will further

evaluated by chemical and biological assy.

Expected outcome

The expected outcomes of the proposed research are listed as follows:

1. Medicinal, functional and nutritional characteristics of several indigenous food

and herbs, which is presently unexplored, will be elucidated. Thereby, regional,

national and international interest about the potential benefit of these foods and

herbs will be created; they will be domesticated and commercialized through

production of functional foods, dietary supplements and pharmacological uses.

2. The comprehensive results of proposed research will be highly useful for food

scientist, nutritionist, biochemist and pharmaceutics. The food and food

ingredient found with high functional and biochemical potential can be used in the

formulation of important nutraceutical and functional foods and may find useful

in the prevention and management of the chronic health problem- diabetes

mellitus, cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

3. Nepali foods and medicinal herbs are presently limited only in traditional

ayurvedic treatment. Similarly, much of the herbal resources is collected from the

wild and exported out of the country in the form of crude plant materials.

Therefore these valuable resources are still under-utilized and under-value in

Nepal. However, outcome of this proposed study would highlight their medicinal

and therapeutic values, which will promote the production, processing and

utilization of these foods and herbs for formulation of therapeutic drugs and

functional foods, and offer a significant means of income generation for the

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people, as well as tremendous potential for increasing these socioeconomic

benefits to Himalayan kingdom like, Nepal.

4. Natural bioresources will be taken as invaluable assests; exploration on their

indigenous food and herbs of Nepal for potential health benefits will be

undertaken by national and international research institutions, many of them,

which at present, can be eptiomized as destined to extinction.

5. Furthermore, series of reports and papers will be produced and efforts will be

made to publish and widely circulate these papers as well as the findings. Reports

and papers will be presented in conferences, seminars and workshops during the

program. It will help to disseminate the findings of these studies. The sharing of

experiences and knowledge with American professionals and experts would help

to broaden our vision, which ultimately helps to improve research standard of our

institute in the future. Similarly, American collaborative researcher may be

benefited from interaction and joint research work.

Time frame and laboratory work:

The total duration of the proposed research will be 3 years. The laboratory

analysis and other investigations of samples will be carried out at Central Food Research

Laboratory, of Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC),

Government of Nepal, and Functional Food Center (FFC) Inc. Texas, USA.

Financial aspect:

The proposed research will be a joint collaborative work between DFTQC and

FFC. The research cost will be planned as per the mutual understanding between DFTQC

and FFC based on the resources availability and financial rules and regulations.

? Expected outcome