ABSTRACT
In 1989, Dr. Stephen L.DeFelice of the Foundation for Innovation in Medicine coined the term nutraceutical and defined it as “any substance that is a food or part of a food that provides medical and/or health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease” (1). According to DeFelice, nutraceuticals include foods, dietary supplements, and medical foods. According to the Nutraceuticals Institute (Rutgers and St. Joseph Universities), “nutraceuticals (often referred to as phytochemicals or functional foods) are natural bioactive chemical compounds that have health promoting, disease preventing, and medicinal properties” (2). The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines nutraceutical as “a foodstuff (as a fortified food or dietary supplement) that provides health benefits.”
