ABSTRACT
Scientific evidence and a growing awareness of the correlation between diet and health have driven the interest of consumers to healthier food products. This led to the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals that provide physiological and metabolic benefits to counteract diseases and degenerative disorders. Functional foods are fortified, enriched or enhanced foods that have a potentially beneficial effect on health when consumed as part of a varied diet. Bamboo shoots are now being used for food fortification to incorporate the nutrients and bioactive compounds for preparing value added food products from fresh and processed shoots. Some of these products are cookies, candies, chips, nuggets, crackers and other snacks. The rise in popularity of nutraceuticals has been backed by research that has provided conclusive evidence about the beneficial role of nutraceuticals against several chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, osteoporosis and many more. The nutraceutical potential of bamboo, including anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, anti-hyperlipidemic and anti-microbial, have been worked out in different bamboo species. Many nutraceutical products have been developed from bamboo which is available commercially. In-vivo experiments with mice have also been conducted to authenticate the health benefits of bamboo shoot such as the effect on body and organ weight, glucose and lipid profile and liver and kidney function.
