ABSTRACT
The term dietary bioactive compounds (or biologically active compounds) has been used in the last decades to describe food constituents with extra nutritional value, usually in connection with aging and degenerative diseases. The classication of a certain compound or group of compounds into this category is based on health benets arbitrarily observed in humans, animals, or even in cell studies. Bioactive compounds range from low-molecular-weight acids, phenols, steroids, alkaloids, etc., to high-molecular-weight carbohydrates and proteins. Their physiological effects can relate to signaling, cholesterol-lowering, lipid modulation, immunity, hypotensivity, or other benecial effects (Biesalski et al. 2009). Bioactive compounds are also termed nutraceuticals, and foods containing them are referred to as “functional foods,” i.e., health-promoting, disease-preventing, or medicinal foods.
